Sonictroid: Objective N
by GreenSonic21
Summary: Sequel to "Sonic Fusion". Follows the plot of "Metroid: Other M". Featuring Team Sonic, Team Dark, Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2, and another hedgehog...
1. Reflecting on One's Past

_In the space colony's abandoned research lab, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, Mr. Tanaka, Christopher Thorndyke, Dr. Eggman, and his robotic assistants all had their eyes focused on the battle going on just outside the window, as was everyone down on the Earth's surface. Following its battle with Shadow in the core of the ARK, the Biolizard used Chaos Control to fuse itself with the Eclipse Cannon, keeping the colony on its collision course. Together, Sonic and Shadow summoned the energy within Chaos Emeralds, after they had been temporarily disabled by the Master Emerald, to transform and stop the creature's last attempt to fulfill Professor Gerald's revenge._

_The massive lizard roared at the two super-powered hedgehogs, firing three pink colored beams from its mouth at them. Both Sonic and Shadow stopped for a moment before flying towards it, gaining speed as they got closer. They then struck the creature's life support system at roughly the same time, the system still damaged from the earlier fight. It gave off one last seemingly hate-filled roar as it was engulfed in the resulting explosion, not a trace of it remaining._

_But it was not over yet. The creature's defeat wasn't enough to divert Space Colony ARK off of its collision course, the entire station being surrounded by a burning red aura as it began to get closer to reentry. Both Sonic and Shadow flew in front of the colony, both of them stopping and holding their arms out towards the colony, Sonic saying, "We'll stop it right here!"_

_Both hedgehogs strained under the force of the space colony, but refused to give in. They had to do something to slow the space colony before they used Chaos Control or it wouldn't go back into a stable orbit. As they continued to hold on, they could hear the voices of their friends in their heads._

"_You can do it, Sonic!"_

"_Give it all you've got, Shadow!"_

"_If you fail, the entire planet will be destroyed!"_

"_Tough it out, you guys!"_

"_You can do it!"_

"_We know you can!"_

"_Sonic!"_

"_Shadow!" This one was a voice from the black hedgehog's past, from the girl who had been his friend and who he had made a promise to. In his mind, he could see her face and hear her plead, "Those people need you, Shadow!"_

_For a second, Shadow seemed to hesitate, but his gaze then hardened as he said, "I am Shadow! Shadow the Hedgehog!" After saying this, he removed the rings on his wrists and socks, his body unleashing a white light as he brought out his full power. Without turning to Sonic, he asked, "You ready?"_

_The blue hedgehog called over to him, "You bet!" He brought his arms down to his sides, a yellow light coming out of his body as he brought out his full strength; as he did, he said, "Here we go!"_

_After a second, a sphere of yellow light surrounded both of them, growing bigger and causing the aura around the ARK to dissipate. They each then held an arm out, a beam that was colored white being fired directly towards the space colony as they shouted,_

"_CHAOS…"_

"_CONTROL!"_

_A white light struck the space colony, growing in size until it had engulfed the entire station. After several moments, the colony disappeared and reappeared with many sparkles surrounding it. The station had stopped its descent and was now back in a stable orbit around the Earth after being less than a minute away from impact just seconds ago. Before it reappeared, one last voice could be heard._

"_Maria… I did it… for you."_

**Present day, G.U.N. HQ Medical Ward**

Shadow was sleeping in what appeared to be a cryogenic capsule, his hands pressed together over his chest and several wires attached to the top of his head as he slept. The tube was giving off a light blue glow from within, the capsule itself being hooked up to various machines. A small screen suddenly popped out of the side of the capsule and moved over Shadow's body, the image of a quarantine officer's face appearing on it; the officer spoke, "Okay, Shadow. Everything's normal."

Shadow's eyelids twitched for a moment before they opened, his red eyes beginning to register the world around him. The capsule suddenly opened, the wires in Shadow's head detaching and a slight mist being given off as the lid slid out and up. While it was doing so, the black hedgehog thought to himself, "_That's right. I was having a dream, reliving a moment from my past. Thanks to the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and I were able to destroy that ugly prototype and save the Earth, the planet Maria loved._" As he brought his arms down to his sides, he thought, somewhat mournfully, "_Maria…_"

The officer spoke, bringing him back to reality, "Let's try sitting up. Slowly now." As directed, Shadow began to shift his weight, pressing his hands against the capsule as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Seeing that he was sitting without much difficulty, the officer asked him if he could stand up, the black hedgehog responding by pressing his legs against the bottom of the capsule and shifting his weight. He then carefully stood up, making sure of his balance before stepping out of the capsule.

As he stood up straight, Shadow noticed two other quarantine officers in the room, standing behind a long computer panel. One of them spoke, "All right, Shadow. You're needed next door." Shadow stood there a moment before giving a slight nod and began walking towards the door the officer had directed him towards.

The door emptied out into a virtual reality training room, the perfect place for new or recovering soldiers to test their skills. Shadow walked along the dark green floor, eyeing the blue walls before stopping and looking up at the window in the room. Behind the window were the head quarantine officer and the quarantine officer that had directed him to come to the room in the first place. The head quarantine officer spoke, "Right, let's get started. See if you can defeat all of the holograms."

Suddenly, a holographic Buzz Bomber appeared behind Shadow, firing its laser sting at him shortly after materializing. Shadow quickly sensed the shot and dove to the side, rolling on the ground. He then turned around and went into a Spin Dash, hitting the hologram before it had a chance to react and breaking it down into particles. More holograms of older Eggman Badniks began to appear afterwards, as well as some of his more recent robots. These included EggRobos, Crabmeat, Caterkiller, Egg Pawns, and Egg Gunners. Although the officers were putting pressure on him, Shadow took it all in stride and took them out one by one.

Eventually, the holograms stopped appearing and the head quarantine officer spoke down to him, "Impressive, Shadow. Especially considering what you went through a short while ago. I couldn't see any human holding up as well as you have so far." Shadow didn't respond to that, so the officer said, "Right then, Commander Tower wants to see you about your mission. He's waiting for you in the Briefing Room; I gave you a bit of a polish while we were looking you over. You should be at least somewhat presentable." He adjusted his glasses after saying that, smiling to himself as he did.

Shadow nodded and turned around, leaving the training room and the Medical Ward. As he headed for the Briefing Room, his thoughts turned to the dream he had been having. It had been a long time since he had last dreamed about his past. For some reason, it made him feel a tad uneasy, but he pushed it into the back of his mind as he came across the entrance to the Briefing Room.

As he stepped inside, he was greeted by Rouge. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Did you enjoy your little nap?" she asked him.

Shadow replied, "I wouldn't know." It wasn't entirely a snide remark; while he hadn't been frozen or placed in suspended animation inside of the capsule, he didn't exactly fall asleep normally either. He then glanced around to see that, in addition to Commander Tower, Topaz and her commander were also present.

Commander Tower spoke, "Rouge. That will do." The bat stepped aside after a moment, allowing Shadow to come inside. Once he was standing in front of the commander, they saluted each other before Commander Tower asked, "Are you feeling well enough to report on your mission to the Power Plant Zone, Agent Shadow?"

Shadow nodded, "Yes sir."

_**Flashback, hours earlier, near the former site of Eggmanland**_

_A burst of white light appeared at the entrance to the large Power Plant Zone, soon fading to reveal Shadow. He looked up at the building, which was to serve as Eggmanland's emergency power in case something went wrong with the energy from Dark Gaia, for a moment before using a Chaos Spear to create a hole in the front of the building, leaping through it to get inside._

_Most of the zone appeared to be made of shuttle loops, half-pipes, and walkways. Not that it was any problem for Shadow; he activated his air shoes and took off through the building, coming across Orbinauts and Rollbugs as he ran through. Eventually, after running through a series of shuttle loops and leaping over a half-pipe, the black hedgehog went through a pair of automatic doors that led to what seemed to be a small generator room. As he looked around it for a moment, he heard the sound of footsteps and looked on top of one of the two generators to see a familiar blue hedgehog. Upon seeing him, Sonic called, "What's up, Shadow?"_

_The black hedgehog shook his head as he muttered, "Can't I go anywhere without you showing up?"_

_Sonic shrugged, "Nice to see you again too."_

_Shadow looked at him as he asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?"_

_Sonic leapt down from the generator and replied, "Tails and Chuck were going over some maps earlier and managed to locate this dump. I figured it had something to do with Eggman's old park or center of his empire or whatever he called it, so I came to check it out. Didn't expect it to be populated by his old Badniks, though."_

_Shadow was about to mention his mission when a sound caught both of their attentions. A hidden door in the floor opened, revealing a larger Orbinaut that had electric spheres swirling around it. At first, it moved along the floor, trying to ram into them or make them hit its swirling orbs, but after both hedgehogs had hit it a few times, it suddenly put on an angry face and began to float in the middle of the room. When Sonic spun into it, one of its orbs turned into a regular Orbinaut that tried to attack him from behind. Shadow saw it coming and fired a Chaos Spear at it, destroying it. They continued to attack, dealing with the smaller Orbinauts it released, soon hitting it from opposite sides and causing it to explode._

_As he looked down at the parts littering the floor, Shadow muttered, "So that was the so-called 'King Orbi,' huh?"_

_Suddenly, Sonic spoke up, "Hey Shadow!" When the black hedgehog looked up at him, he continued, "Look, I don't know exactly why you're here, but I think it's pretty clear that we both want to destroy this place. Wanna work together on this?"_

_Shadow crossed his arms and said, "Forget it. I'm not working with you, so you might as well just go home. I can handle this myself."_

_Sonic replied, "Sorry Shadow, but I didn't come out all this way for a social call. Since I doubt I can change your mind about working together, I'll race you to the main generator room! Just like old times!" With that, the blue hedgehog turned around and dashed deeper into the Power Plant Zone. Shadow glared in the direction he had run for a moment before giving a respectful "hmph!" and chasing after him._

_As they both raced through the zone, they came across more shuttle loops, Orbinauts, and Rollbugs, as well as rotating platforms, spikes, springs, and electric objects from Dr. Eggman's Scrap Brain Zone back on Mobius. None of it was anything that either hedgehog had had trouble with in the past, and they both quickly made their way through the zone, eventually arriving at the main generator room after Shadow helped Sonic defeat the two Orbinauts that had sealed the doors._

_As they stepped inside, a door opened in the middle of the floor between two generators, an Orbinaut even larger than King Orbi rising out. "Oh great. This thing's back for another go, huh?" Sonic sighed._

"_Don't let the similar appearance deceive you, Sonic. This Orbinaut is known as Gorbichev; it's still just a nuisance more than anything, but it'll probably put up more of a fight than King Orbi did." After he said that, Sonic took another look at Gorbichev and took note of the blue orbs surrounding it, seeming to act like a shield._

_Gorbichev began to float around the room, attempting to attack Sonic and Shadow at times. It definitely proved to be more challenging than King Orbi; Gorbichev was invulnerable to their attacks at times and would release smaller Orbinauts every time it was hit. It was also able to manipulate the orbs surrounding it, making them swirl around like a tornado or bounce on the ground, and was seemingly able to teleport. Still, both Sonic and Shadow managed to survive its tricks and attack without getting in each other's way, and soon, Gorbichev seemed to explode and fell to the floor, defeated._

_As Sonic and Shadow turned to leave, however, they heard a sound come out of the destroyed robot and turned to see it rising up off the floor, despite the fact that it seemed to be exploding inside, as there were small explosions shooting out of its body. After a moment of looking at them, it began to gravitate towards them, both Sonic and Shadow turning around and running away from it. As it attempted to chase them, it suddenly hit one of the generators in the room, causing a chain reaction in the other generators._

_Seconds later, both Sonic and Shadow were running for their lives as a wall of flames began to chase after them. The chain reaction started by the destruction of the first generator was spreading throughout the whole building, and it wouldn't be long before the entire Power Plant Zone exploded. Even as fast as the two hedgehogs were capable of running, they couldn't put much distance between them and the wall approaching them. At several points in their running, they could even feel the flames licking across them, slightly burning their fur._

_Still, they kept going, and after nearly being swallowed by the flames after running through one last shuttle loop, they ran through a straight tube that led straight outside. As they got closer to the opening, Shadow called to Sonic, "Ever tried skydiving without a parachute before? Because it looks like we'll be doing something similar in a moment!"_

_Sonic called back, "No problem, Shadow! I've got it taken care of!" He then reached under the wrist of his right glove with his left hand and pressed a few buttons on what appeared to be a wristwatch. As they neared the opening, Sonic called, "Jump!" Both hedgehogs leapt into the air as the flames came flying out underneath them, the rest of the Power Plant Zone on fire and exploding. As gravity began to pull them down, the Tornado 2 suddenly appeared and got under Sonic and Shadow, Sonic landing in the pilot seat while Shadow landed in the passenger's seat. Sonic then piloted the biplane, getting them away from the Power Plant Zone, which soon erupted in an inferno of flames._

_Despite his usual attitude, Shadow commented, "Nice job, Sonic. Having your plane come and pick us up like that."_

_Sonic nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure glad that Tails installed this remote startup on it. Great for situations like this. Hey, as long as you're here, want me to give you a ride home?" Shadow nodded after a moment, looking himself and Sonic over afterwards. They both got cut up a bit and had a few patches of fur burned during their escape. He figured Sonic would be fine, but he'd probably have to stop by the Medical Ward before reporting to Commander Tower. He then turned around and looked back at what was left of the Power Plant Zone as Sonic set a course for Guardian Mountain._

**End of flashback**

"The mission was completed successfully, Commander Tower. The Power Plant Zone was completely destroyed, along with all of the doctor's Badniks," Shadow concluded.

Commander Tower nodded, "Excellent work, Agent Shadow. Dismissed." The two saluted one more time before Shadow turned and left the Briefing Room, heading for the Recreation Room. Behind him, he could hear Rouge and Topaz talking, no doubt heading for the same room.

As he walked, his thoughts once again turned to his dream. He wondered why he had dreamed about that specific time and why it made him uneasy. As he thought about it, he suddenly had an idea of why it made him uneasy. "_Could it be a warning?_" he asked himself.

* * *

Hey guys! Yep, I've decided to start a new story. It's been in the back of my head for a while now, so I decided I would at least get it started.

This story will roughly follow the plot of "Metroid: Other M," but it will have its differences. It'll probably be shorter too.

Anyway, on to the actual chapter notes.

The flashback of the battle against The Finalhazard is based on the fight in Sonic X episode 38 "Showdown in Space." All spoken dialogue during the flashback comes directly from that episode.

The capsule Shadow is resting in is based on the ones he was kept in in both the Sonic X anime and comic.

The second flashback is based on the fangame "Sonic Boom" by SÆGA.

If anyone has any questions regarding the timeline, by all means ask me. I'll try to clear it up for you.

I hope everyone who enjoyed "Sonic Fusion" also finds this to be enjoyable! I'll do my best to find time to update with new chapters, so for now, I'll see you guys later!


	2. Baby's Cry

_**How long has it been since we first learned about the Metroids? So much has happened since SR388 was destroyed and S.O.N.I.C.X. was locked away. So many plots have been made by the doctor only to end in failure: creating a Metal Sonic robot that went rogue, unleashing Dark Gaia from the depths of the Earth, hosting the 'EX World Grand Prix,' trying to collect the Arks of the Cosmos... With everything that has happened, I can't recall how much time has passed since then.**_

_-Shadow the Hedgehog_

* * *

**A ruined city 200 years in the future**

Sonic slid down a rail, grinding on an old piece of metal that he was using like a snowboard. All around him, the city was burning out of control, all of the buildings ruined and some even collapsed to create the makeshift slope he was boarding down. He steadily made his way down, dodging worm-like creatures and lizard-like monsters that were born from the flames while watching out for areas where fire would suddenly shoot out.

He eventually passed between two buildings, going down a small slope that led to a half pipe made of a broken road that was littered with spike balls. He swerved between the lines of spikes while watching out for fire bombs being dropped by a pair of fire birds. He soon reached the end of the half pipe and, after a bit more boarding, reached the beginning of a shuttle loop, so he ditched his board and shot up what likely used to be a bridge, going up and around before going down.

The shuttle loop sent Sonic down further into the city, the hedgehog eventually landing on a section of road that had several buildings around it, as well as a ruined taxi and pickup truck. Almost immediately after landing, several fire lizards leapt out of the ground, but they were easily put down by Sonic's Homing Attack. Afterwards, he used a spring at the end of the road to keep moving, sliding along a rail to a building that he went around until he found a hole in the side where a spring was located. The spring sent him up to another that rocketed him towards another rail, which he got off partway since he saw several more birds plus a '1-up' capsule floating in the air. Sonic took out all of the enemies and grabbed the capsule, landing safely on another section of broken road.

He continued onward, going through and over buildings before he eventually was sent flying by a speed booster onto another shuttle loop. At the end he found another speed booster that sent him flying between two buildings that exploded inside while he was flying, sending broken glass flying into the lava below. He landed on the side of another building, where a speed booster propelled him into a spring that sent him high into the sky. As he began to reach the height of his jump, he saw floating pieces of road and buildings, which he landed on and used to move forward while dealing with more fire monsters.

Eventually, Sonic reached the end, where a set of springs sent him back towards the ground. He landed on a long strip of broken road, turning around when a loud sound caught his attention. A massive fire tornado was coming towards him, and it was picking up cars! Sonic immediately took off running, watching out for objects flying out of the tornado while avoiding debris scattered on the road. At the speed he was going, though, Sonic soon reached the Goal Ring at the end and touched it, skidding to a stop and striking a victory pose as the fire tornado also came to a stop. Sonic soon saw words appear in front of him, which said,

_Mission Complete_

_Result_

_Score: 9,850_

_Time: 3:27:150_

_Rings: 215_

_Time Bonus: 89,720_

_Ring Bonus: 21,500_

_Total Score: 121,070_

_Rank: S_

Sonic grinned to himself, "That was incredible!" Afterwards, the cityscape vanished and blackness filled Sonic's vision.

**Present day, Emerald Town, Tails' Lab**

Tails and Knuckles looked away from a computer screen showing Sonic's results, turning to face the blue hedgehog, who was lying down on a bed with a helmet that covered most of his head, leaving only his mouth and nose exposed, similar to the virtual reality machine Dr. Eggman had used to trap him and his friends a while back. The helmet came off of him and retracted into a machine, Sonic waking up shortly afterwards.

As he sat up, Tails spoke, "Great job on the Crisis City map, Sonic! You managed to get an 'S' rank on your first time through the 'Extreme' version of it!"

Sonic grinned as he sat on the side of the bed, "Heh, yeah but you notice I still lost my rings once or twice along the way. That was one tricky VR simulation, Tails, but it seemed a little buggy in places. You might want to go over it and do something to fix that."

Tails rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Well, keep in mind that most of these VR maps are still under development. You might be eager to test them out, but I'd rather not rush the production. I'd like everyone to be able to be able to complete the levels rather than have them complain about what's wrong with it."

Knuckles spoke up, "So you got anything else interesting that might be finished or what? The Holy Summit can help mask the Master Emerald's energy, but it can't hide it forever. So even though I decided to bring it down from Angel Island for a little while, I'd like to get it back there before Eggman figures out where it is."

Tails replied, "You can go if you want, Knuckles. You don't have to stick around if you don't want to." When the echidna voiced his decision to stick around for a while, Tails spoke, "Okay, then I've got some other stuff that I wanted to show you guys!" Sonic hopped off of the bed and followed Tails and Knuckles through the lab to an a teleporter, all three of them disappearing after Tails set a destination.

The trio arrived in a huge room containing all of Tails' flying machines. The Tornado-1, Tornado 2, X-Tornado, and the Hyper Tornado were all present, each on its own sort of landing pad. "Wow, Tails, you've got quite a hangar down here. Is the Blue Typhoon down here too?" Sonic wondered.

"Yeah. This is part of my workshop in the Mystic Ruins, after all. I designed that teleporter from some of Eggman's old parts so that both of my labs could be connected," Tails explained.

"Geek," Knuckles muttered under his breath. When Tails asked him what he said, he replied, "Huh? Nothing!" They continued walking through the lab, eventually coming across Sonic's spaceship and another slightly larger ship near it. This other ship had four engines attached to it, blue wings and a blue rudder, and a spherical cockpit area that had two red wings attached to the sides and Tails' two-tailed logo on the front.

"What's this new ship, Tails? I've never seen it before," Sonic commented.

"I call it the Cyclone! It's got all the same capabilities of your ship, though it could carry everyone we know if need be. Wanna see?" Tails asked. Both Sonic and Knuckles agreed, so Tails clicked a few buttons on a wristwatch similar to the one Sonic used to call the Tornado 2. This caused a door to open in front of the ship's cockpit, a ramp extending down to the floor. The trio walked inside and, while Sonic and Knuckles looked around the ship, Tails sat in the pilot's seat, getting the ship started.

Soon, the ship was ready to go and the platform it was on lifted up, bringing the Cyclone up into the mountainous area around the Blue Typhoon's launch area. After another minute, the ship lifted off and headed for space, going past the Space Colony ARK into deep space.

A while later, Knuckles, who was sitting in one of the seats along with Sonic, spoke, "Hey Tails, this has been pretty cool, but don't you think it's time to head back? Eggman may be up to something now, seeing as he's been in that island fortress of his for days."

Tails replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right, Knuckles. Well, don't worry. I'll set the engines to..." Before he could finish, a red light started flashing and an alarm started blaring.

Sonic sat upright in his seat and asked, "What's going on, Tails? Something interesting?"

Tails checked one of the monitors before replying, "We've picked up a 'Baby's Cry!'"

Knuckles glanced over at Tails with an obviously baffled look on his face, asking, "What are you talking about? A 'Baby's Cry?' What's that supposed to mean?"

Tails looked back over his shoulder and explained, "It's the code name for a common SOS signal, Knuckles, since it has the urgency of a baby crying. The military gave it that nickname because the purpose of the signal is to draw attention."

Sonic asked, "Where's it coming from, Tails?"

Tails examined a map on his computer screen for several moments before saying, "Uh, it's coming from a remote part of space. The Cyclone should be able to reach the source in no time."

Sonic replied, "Well, what are you waiting for then, buddy? Let's go check it out!" Tails nodded, as did Knuckles after thinking for a moment, the young fox altering the Cyclone's course, blasting off in the direction of the SOS signal.

The Cyclone soon arrived in Cosmos region A47, coming out of hyperspace as it entered the area. The region the ship was in seemed almost ominous, as there was a massive amount of space dust scattered around, all of it mostly red in color.

Knuckles glanced over the computer screens displaying the area, asking, "Any idea what's giving off the distress signal, Tails?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah, we should see it soon. Some sort of space station." His computer screen was displaying a station that looked similar to a baby's bottle, as well as the name 'Bottle Ship' and that there was a high quantity of space dust surrounding it. As Tails steered the ship, he suddenly called, "Look, there it is!" Both Sonic and Knuckles turned to look out the window at that.

The Bottle Ship was huge, almost as large as Dr. Eggman's Death Egg. The amount of space dust surrounding the station made it seem like the station was either abandoned or destroyed, possibly to ward off potential threats. As they looked at it, Tails spoke, "Hang on, guys. The scanners have found an open hanger where we can land. I'm altering our course now."

The Cyclone swept over the surface of the Bottle Ship, weaving around the structures scattered about before it went upwards, heading for the hanger. The ship went through the space dust surrounding the entrance, which was being held back by an invisible shield, and, after going forward for a few seconds, slowed down and landed.

Several minutes later, the door at the front of the ship opened and the ramp extended down to the ground. Team Sonic stood in the entryway, each of them wearing several items taken from the Cyclone's storage. Sonic was wearing an upgraded version of the infrared scope Chuck had given him when he infiltrated Area 99 and a Crystal Ring on his right wrist, Tails had an all-purpose headset that was able to scan the surroundings, as well as his Jet Anklets and Rhythm Badge, and Knuckles had on his Shovel Claws, Air Necklace, and Sunglasses. The team stepped down the ramp and began to climb the nearby metal walkway, going up.

When they reached the top, Knuckles called to his teammates, "Hey, looks like we're not the only ones here, guys." Sonic and Tails glanced back at him and looked where he was looking, seeing what he was talking about.

A large ship was next to the platform they were on, possibly a transport of some kind. Tails used his headset to take a closer look at a marking on the side, a large 'G' surrounded by blue and red with a white arrow surrounding it. "That's a military ship. Maybe the United Federation...?" he wondered.

Suddenly, the ship rumbled for a moment, causing the team to snap back to attention. "There's definitely something up. Let's move, guys!" said Sonic as he began running towards the door at the far end of the platform with Tails and Knuckles following close behind. The three of them quickly made their way through the following hallway, the station shaking again as they went around a corner.

As they passed through the door at the end of the hall, they ran through the following room before skidding to a stop after passing by several stacks of differently colored crates. The team then struck a fighting pose as the sound of weapons being cocked filled the air...

* * *

From now on, every chapter will have a quote said by one of the characters at the beginning. Each quote will be based off of Samus' narrations in some way, so that way I'm not making someone monologue partway through each chapter. Shadow's quote here is clearly making references to the events of Sonic Heroes, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Riders, and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

The VR simulation at the beginning is based off of Crisis City from Sonic '06, specifically the downloadable "Very Hard" version for Sonic. Sonic and Tails talking about bugs and not rushing production is meant to poke fun at why the actual game was not well-received.

The Cyclone looks like it does in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, except instead of the yellow and black lines going around the front, the logo from the rocket Sonic uses in Sonic 4: Episode 1 is on the front of it.


	3. An Unlikely Alliance

_**Outsiders... The word he chose for Team Sonic was so obvious for him, but even I could feel the force behind it. Of course, I doubt that Sonic, Tails, or Knuckie would've actually backed down, but I still have to wonder how many others will be able to withstand Shadow's colorful vocabulary the way they did.**_

_-Rouge the Bat, commenting on Shadow's answer to Sonic's question_

_

* * *

_

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood ready as they braced themselves for a possible firefight. Standing a short distance away from them was a group of four humans wearing United Federation Power Suits, each pointing a rifle at them. The suits were mostly dark blue in color, along with strips of black on the abdomen, arms, and legs. Their helmets had a white 'SA2' on them, and their orange visors made it impossible for the trio to see any of the group member's faces.

After a tense moment, one of the soldiers spoke up, "Ah... Fancy running into you here, hedgehog." As Team Sonic looked on in confusion and the other soldiers lowered their weapons, the soldier pressed a button on the side of his helmet, making the visor slide open, revealing the male human's white skin. "Remember me?" he asked.

Tails looked over at Sonic and asked, "Sonic, do you know who that is?"

Sonic scratched the side of his head with a finger as he said, "I think so... He looks familiar..." After a moment, he stopped and said, "Yeah, I remember now! You were with that bunch of clowns who arrested me because you thought I stole a Chaos Emerald!"

This made a vein grow on the soldier's face and he yelled, "Watch your mouth, fur ball! We're Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2 and don't you forget it! I should..."

Another soldier grabbed him by the shoulder and, without opening his visor, spoke, "That's enough, Honch. You're supposed to be a professional; now act like one." From the sound of its voice, this soldier was also a male.

Honch replied, "Fine, whatever you say, Spike." He then backed up, as if to indicate that he would behave.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stepped forward as Spike did the same while he opened his visor, revealing his pale-gray skin. He spoke, "Just ignore Honch if he has an outburst. He's pretty excitable, even for a soldier." He then gestured behind him as he said, "Oh, and speaking of the last time we saw you, you might be interested to know that your buddy's here too." Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles looked past him to see Shadow, Rouge, and Omega standing in the back. Rouge was the only one who waved to them; Shadow glared at them with his arms crossed and Omega just stood there.

Rouge looked like she was about to say something, but Shadow beat her to it, asking, "What are you three doing here?" At this, Sonic inwardly sighed, "_Typical Shadow._"

Tails spoke up, "We were trying out my new ship, the Cyclone, when we picked up the distress signal that this station was sending. We were worried, so we came to investigate."

Sonic then asked, "So how did you and the military end up here as well, Shadow?"

Shadow replied, "Outsiders are not privy to information like that." Except for the fourth soldier, who was crouched down and doing something over by a nearby door, all the soldiers turned to look at him at that remark. In addition, the usual grin on Sonic's face eased off, Tails looked a little worried, Knuckles glared at Shadow, and Rouge seemed a bit concerned about what he said.

Suddenly, the soldier near the door stood up and turned to Shadow, saying, "Sir, we're all set!" It seemed this soldier was also a male. Shadow nodded and he, Rouge, Omega, and Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2 moved away from the door as a beeping could be heard. Everyone crouched down when they were away from the door, Team Sonic joining in a second later, and an explosive planted on the door exploded shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, when the smoke cleared, it seemed as though the door hadn't been damaged at all. The soldier stood up and opened his visor, revealing his dark skin, saying, "Argh! No dice! I think our best option is to use the laser to slowly burn our way through. This is gonna take a while..."

Spike turned to Team Sonic and said, "The electrical system on this station is out, and we can't get the barrier wall to open. We could try more explosives, but it'd be hard to avoid causing collateral damage. Any ideas?"

Knuckles asked, "Shouldn't there be a way to blow it off with something that would cause less damage?"

Tails crossed his arms, "What we need is a way to focus the power onto one centralized location..." Sonic looked at the door for a moment before he took off his scope, putting it in his quills, and summoned his suit, his Crystal Ring glowing as the suit materialized over him. He then brought an arm back before thrusting it forward, firing a missile at the barrier.

The soldier from earlier went over to investigate the barrier while Honch and an unnamed soldier looked at each other and Spike quietly chuckled. The missile seemed to have destroyed the lock on the barrier, as the soldier was able to force it open, the door past it opening afterwards. After a moment, all of the soldiers went through the door, followed by Omega and Rouge. Shadow stayed behind for a second to glare at Sonic before leaving to catch up with his team.

Sonic turned to Tails and Knuckles and asked, "What do you guys think? Should we catch up to them or see if we can find out what's going on ourselves?"

Knuckles spoke, "I'm not really in the mood for Rouge and her games, but it'll probably take more than Shadow's team to protect those humans with him."

Tails nodded, "I agree. But Sonic, you might want to disable some of your suit's functions for now. I mean, you saw how Shadow looked at you just now. I think it'll be easier on all of us if you limit your suit's active equipment. Just for now, anyway."

Sonic glanced down at his suit before he said, "All right, I guess you have a point there, buddy." He then clicked a few hidden buttons on his right wrist, disabling Missiles, Bombs, the Varia and Gravity Suit abilities, the Sawnic Attack, and the Space Jump Boots, as well as a few other things. The suit became a lighter shade of blue, similar to the color that appeared on Metal Sonic. He then said, "That should be enough. Let's get going." They then hurried after Team Dark and Team Sigma-Alpha 2.

The trio went through a handful of rooms, being ambushed by a swarm of Reo in one room, a door locking just before a room containing a bridge, and having to climb up the sides of an elevator due to the power being out. Afterwards, they entered a room that reminded Sonic of the Computer Rooms on the SRL Station. "Hey Tails, any idea what this room is?" Sonic asked.

Tails analyzed it with his headset for a moment before replying, "It's a Navigation Room. That platform in the middle is the Navigation Booth, which is able to treat injuries, restore electronics, download map data, and is a point of communication aboard the Bottle Ship."

Knuckles asked, "So what, there are more of these rooms all over this station?"

Tails nodded, "It looks like it. Give it a try, Sonic!" The blue hedgehog turned to the platform and stepped on it, standing in the center.

Suddenly, a transparent orange cylinder surrounded Sonic as a female computer voice spoke, "First aid and shield-restoration sequence activated." After a moment, the cylinder disappeared and the voice said, "Sequence complete. Process successful."

Sonic looked down at his suit as he said, "Huh, this thing does some quick work. Those Reo that ambushed us got a few hits in, but now you can't even tell."

Tail spoke, "These rooms are probably protected from all sorts of dangers, so we should remember where they are in case we need to find a safe place to go. Now, let's hurry and catch up with Shadow!" Both Sonic and Knuckles nodded and the three of them ran through the opposite door, heading through a dark hallway.

The door slid open when they reached the other side, revealing Team Dark and Team Sigma-Alpha 2 gathered around something. When they approached, Spike moved to the side, allowing them to see a scientist's corpse, the researcher's body appearing to have been attacked by something large and his lab coat stained green. Tails immediately shrunk back at the sight, not particularly thrilled about seeing a dead body, Sonic patting him on the shoulder reassuringly. One of the soldiers, who had brown eyes and a brown mustache, spoke, "He's dead. Someone - or something - attacked him..."

As they were looking down at the body, it suddenly began to shake, making everyone take a step back. A Brug soon crawled out from under the corpse, making it stop twitching. As they looked at it, the dark skinned soldier suddenly kicked it, saying, "Get away from me!" While it was flying through the air, he brought up his rifle and began to shoot at it. Sonic quickly covered Tails' eyes before it was destroyed, bursting into a cloud of green.

"Rico! Enough!" the mustached shoulder exclaimed, placing a hand on the dark skinned man's shoulder and shaking him.

After looking down at the researcher for another moment, Sonic turned to Shadow and spoke, "Shadow, listen to me." The black hedgehog shifted his eyes up to look at Sonic, who was walking around to him. Sonic continued, "It looks like this facility is a complete mess. It might be a bit risky for your men to go by themselves. That's why-"

Sonic was cut off when something seemed to catch Shadow's attention, causing the blue hedgehog and everyone else to turn around. Lots of Brugs were crawling out of the spaces in the wall, moving up towards the ceiling. The members of Sigma-Alpha 2 reactivated their visors, everyone's eyes following the Brugs up to the ceiling, not seeing them surround an Emperor Brug. After a second, though, the Brugs landed on the floor, creating a Brug Mass.

As the Mass reared up, Shadow yelled, "Take it down!" At that, the soldiers opened fire on it while it brought one of its 'tentacles' back. Everyone then dived out of the way as it slammed it against the ground, creating a slight shockwave. Knuckles and Rouge went to attack afterwards, Knuckles dragging a Shovel Claw through its side while Rouge attacked the side of its head with a Screw Kick. Although this seemed to break off some of the Brugs, they quickly reattached themselves to the Mass. It then turned around to face Sonic and Tails, Sonic shooting it with his basic beam while Tails used his headset to scan it. When it turned around completely, it tried to swipe at them with a 'tentacle,' both Sonic and Tails diving to the side.

As they both stood up, Honch yelled, "This isn't good! Nothing's working on this thing!"

Shadow called, "Listen up! Use of freeze guns is authorized!" At that signal, all of the soldiers put their rifles away and pulled out guns that had a tank in front of the trigger. As they began to open fire on it, Shadow called to Sonic and Tails, "Sonic, I'm authorizing missile use. Tails, if you have anything you can use to attack from a distance, it's authorized as well." At this, Sonic took a moment to set up his missile launcher while Tails summoned a red arm cannon around his right arm.

Sonic and Knuckles went in for an attack, Sonic aiming a missile at the Emperor Brug while Knuckles went to attack its torso. Unfortunately, Sonic missed and Knuckles' attack didn't do anything, Sonic managing to roll out of the way while Knuckles got his foot caught in the Mass. It grabbed him and threw him up, trying to smack him down towards the ground when Tails came flying in and fired an electric ball at the Emperor Brug. This made it rear back, allowing Knuckles time to recover and land, and it attempted to smack Tails with a 'tentacle,' who easily got out of the way thanks to his Jet Anklets.

Seeing that it was stuck for the moment, Shadow called, "Concentrate fire on a single location and freeze that thing! And Sonic, Omega, attack the frozen spot with missiles!" The freeze guns caused a thick layer of ice to form around the 'tentacle,' and both Sonic and Omega fired missiles at it, making it break into ice shards. This continued for several minutes, attacking the Emperor Brug and freezing part of the Mass, attacking afterwards. Tails used his arm cannon to destroy the second 'tentacle' while Shadow attacked the base with a Chaos Spear. When Shadow hit the base, the Emperor Brug popped out onto the floor, both Knuckles and Rouge going after it. Knuckles latched a Shovel Claw into it and sent it flying towards Rouge, who blitzed it to nothing with a Screw Kick. After it was gone, the remaining Brugs escaped into the cracks in the wall.

As everyone regrouped after the sudden attack, Sonic took his suit's helmet off and whipped his head to one side, spreading his quills out to their natural look, and Shadow began to approach him. The black hedgehog stopped in front of him, speaking after a moment, "It would appear you were right, Sonic. Cooperation will be essential to completing this mission. But..." At this, he held a finger up as he continued, "If you're going to be a part of this, you're going to have to follow whatever commands you are given. You don't move until you're told. And you don't do or use anything until it's been approved. Understand?"

Sonic was silent for a moment before replying, "Sure. Whatever you say, Shadow." He then placed his helmet back on and made his suit disappear, reaching into his quills afterwards and pulling out his infrared scope.

Seeing this, Shadow asked, "Can I see that for a moment? I need to know if it can be used to communicate on board this ship." Sonic glanced at it, then tossed it to Shadow, who caught it handily. He then went over to Tails and asked to see his headset, the fox handing it over after a moment's hesitation. Shadow then said he was going to get in contact with Commander Tower, heading through a nearby door to head up to the area overlooking the room everyone was in.

As they were waiting, Rouge turned to Sonic and asked, "So big blue, I take it you're familiar with the team we were grouped with for this mission?"

Sonic replied, "Yeah, pretty much. Although I don't think I've met him before." He gestured to the soldier with the brown eyes and mustache.

Rouge explained, "His name is James Pierce. He was added onto this team before we left. He's a special addition or something like that. Isn't that right, James?

The man replied, "Uh, yeah. Hand-picked to help Team Dark and Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2 investigate this ship." But as Sonic and Rouge turned away from them, he looked at them quietly, unknown thoughts drifting through his head...

* * *

A few quick notes. The name Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2 comes from the Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Sonic's mention of them capturing him for suspected theft of a Chaos Emerald mirrors their debut in the comics, where they appeared during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation.

While Spike, Honch, and Rico are based on their appearances in the comic, Shadow is supposed to be the mission leader for them and James Pierce is kept from Metroid: Other M for a certain reason.

The arm cannon Tails summons is based on one of his special attacks in Sonic Battle, where he makes it appear and shoots a ball of electricity at his opponents.


	4. Mission Start

_**It was the first joint mission Tails and I had been a part of since the investigation on SR388. After receiving mission orders from Commander Tower, I had to admit that I felt strangely confused and excited at the unexpected turn of events. I don't know about Knuckles, but I think Tails felt the same way.**_

_-Sonic the Hedgehog's thoughts at the end of the briefing_

* * *

"Exactly what transpired here on the Bottle Ship is still unknown. From the gathered images, this much is certain: the equipment that was thought to have been destroyed is operational again, and the reported casualties are attributed to an unidentified and lethal creature. The situation is critical." Team Sonic, Team Dark, and Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2 were all looking up at the room overlooking the room they had fought the Brug Mass in, where a hologram of Commander Tower was giving all of them their briefing. All the members of the SA2 had their helmets off.

He continued, "All of you need to gather as much information as possible, but priority one is to find any survivors and ensure their safety. Consider this site extremely dangerous; be careful as you make your sweeps. And there's one other problem." Everyone focused their eyes on the hologram as Commander Tower explained, "The wireless interference in this facility is all-pervasive; it's a miracle that Omega's communication systems were able to break through it. Except for him, all of your comms systems will be useless. As a result, all communication will be limited to the station's navigation booths."

He then continued, moving on to mission orders, "Well then... Rico! Investigate Sector 1. And show a little restraint with the explosives."

The dark-skinned black haired soldier replied, "Understood!"

Commander Tower then turned his gaze to Spike and said, "Spike! You cover Sector 2. Repair any equipment you come across."

The man with the blue spiky hair grinned, "Gotcha!"

Commander Tower turned to Shadow's group and spoke, "Team Dark! You're Sector 3. Shadow and Rouge are in charge of determining whether Omega's full payload is called for or not." Shadow and Rouge both nodded while Omega seemed to sulk a bit at not being able to use his weapons whenever he felt like it. Commander Tower looked at James and continued, "James! Investigate the Control Bridge. The communication issues might be the result of electrical interference."

The brown haired man gave a two finger salute, "Yes, sir!"

Lastly, Commander Tower turned to Honch and spoke, "And Honch! Run a complete sweep of the residential quarters and investigate any signs of survivors."

The blonde soldier nodded, "Affirmative!"

Commander Tower continued, "All Sigma-Alpha 2 members are authorized to use a freeze gun, and Omega is allowed level one weapons. Do not forget to check in with Shadow regularly via navigation booths." He then looked at Team Sonic and spoke, "And Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. You three go to the System Management Room. Do everything you can to get the electrical system reactivated, as it will be essential to the completion of this mission." Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles nodded.

Commander Tower continued, "Looks like the comms system on Sonic's infrared scope and suit and Tails' headset are functional just like Omega's. Remember, as long as they're functional, anything the two of you and Omega see will appear on Shadow's portable communicator." At that, Shadow pulled the communicator from out of his quills; it was dark blue and square-shaped with a black handle and a small antenna-like extension. Like Commander Tower said, he could switch between what Sonic, Tails, and Omega were seeing.

Commander Tower spoke, "Regarding auxiliary weapons, the use of Energy Ball, Dummy Ring Bombs, and Morph Ball Bombs has been authorized. As far as other weapons go, Shadow will continue to investigate and authorize use as the mission proceeds. However..." His voice then became especially stern as he said, "Unless they're absolutely necessary, the use of Power Bombs and the Power Bomb Launcher are strictly prohibited. As you know, they have the ability to spread a high-temperature heat wave over a large area, impacting living things... which is a nice way of saying they can vaporize humans and Mobians instantly. You should be well aware of how dangerous Power Bombs are, and how their devastation can't be obstructed with common materials. Once your objective in the System Management Room is complete, report to the Navigation Room and contact Team Dark. Your next orders will be given then."

He then faced everyone as he said, "As I will be out of contact from this point onwards, I want you all to be especially careful as you execute your missions. That's the end of the briefing." Before the hologram faded away, all the soldiers and Team Dark gave a salute to signify their understanding of their orders.

All the members of Team Sigma-Alpha 2 put their helmets back on and immediately moved out to get to work on their missions. Before he left with his team, Shadow turned to Sonic and said, "I'm not going to remind you what you're supposed to be doing every time you try to contact me, so I'll ask you now. Do you understand what you and your team are supposed to do, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "Understood, Shadow. And no objections, of course." Seeming to be satisfied with that response, Shadow and his team began making their way to Sector 3 while Team Sonic headed back towards the System Management Room.

Some of the rooms they went back through seemed a little more lively, as many of them contained Geemers crawling around. They soon arrived outside the System Management Room, but they found that the hatch seemed to be locked on both sides. Tails pointed out a destroyed ventilation shaft to his friends, noting that it appeared to be connected to the System Management Room. Seeing what he was getting at, Sonic did a Spin Dash, breaking through the part of the shaft that was connected to the wall, sending the rest of it crashing to the ground. All three of them then leapt up to a small opening in the wall and slid through, landing in the System Management Room.

When Tails attempted to use the terminal in the room to turn the power back on, it was quickly made apparent what caused the power to go out in the first place. A pair of Fly Pods were surrounding the machines that produced electricity, and Tails' attempt to turn the power on ended up angering the Reo living inside them. Team Sonic quickly went into flight formation, Tails launching Sonic and Knuckles at the Reo with Thunder Shoot, each shot destroying the Reo they hit. After the initial swarm had been taken care of, Sonic destroyed one of the Fly Pods with a Homing Attack while Knuckles carved out part of the inside of the other with his Shovel Claws, giving Tails a chance to throw a Dummy Ring Bomb inside. After it was destroyed, Tails went back to the terminal, this time getting the power back on.

The team headed back to the Navigation Booth, dealing with some Sidehoppers along the way, and contacted Shadow. The black hedgehog spoke through his portable communicator, "Good work, Team Sonic. Now, return to the room where the Brug Mass was and head towards Sector 1. Rico is currently en route to secure a facility of interest, so I'll leave it to you three to investigate Sector 1 in his place."

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles returned to the room and went through the hatch on the right, riding up the elevator in the next room, running through the following hallway, riding another elevator down, and going through a short hallway that was occupied by several Sidehoppers and a pair of Bull. Afterwards, they found the Main Elevator in the room beyond and boarded the one that was glowing green and had a '1' marked above it. As it went down, a female computer voice spoke through an intercom, "This elevator is bound for Sector 1. A Level 3 warning is now in effect in Sector 1. Please avoid traveling alone and remain armed at all times. Stay alert to your surroundings at all times."

Sonic grinned to himself, "Heh, at least she didn't tell us to have a nice day on top of all that."

After about a minute, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, the trio stepping out. As they examined the entrance area, Knuckles asked, "So where are we supposed to start?"

Tails pointed to their left, "Well, seeing as it's the only hatch here and that we're supposed to check in regularly, I say we should start with the Navigation Booth." Sonic glanced back over his shoulder at Tails with a look that said "_Thank you, Captain Obvious._" After a brief stop in the Navigation Booth, their map of the Biosphere had a few rooms added to it and a marker was placed over another Navigation Booth up ahead. They then began their exploration, dealing with Grippers, Fly Pods, and Reo in the second room.

As they ran into a circular room surrounded by a small closed-in environment, they heard the sound of what seemed to be laughing. Suddenly, part of the glass broke, and after a few seconds, the mystery attacker revealed itself to be a Ghalmanian, which attempted to attack them with its long tail. They jumped away from it and then quickly got into Power formation, Knuckles having Sonic and Tails latch onto his fists and using them to punch the creature every time it appeared.

As they were finishing with the first one, another one appeared and sent Knuckles flying, causing all three of them to go flying through one of the sheets of glass. Tails, being the first to recover, leapt back out and used his headset to find out where the Ghalmanian was hiding, throwing a Dummy Ring Bomb at it to get it drop its camouflage. As Sonic and Knuckles leapt back out, Tails dashed up to the creature, grabbed it with his hands, and used his namesakes to send them both up, effectively knocking it onto its back. The fox ended up on its chest and summoned his arm cannon, shoving it in the Ghalmanian's face and blasting it point-blank with an Energy Ball. The creature's body exploded afterwards, leaving a bit of a mess behind.

Sonic crossed over to Tails, who seemed to be frozen on his knees. "Tails? Buddy?" he asked, hesitantly reaching a hand out to the fox.

Tails reached back over his left shoulder with his right hand and touched the blue hedgehog's hand before saying, "I'm all right, Sonic. I just... I can't believe I just did that..."

Sonic patted him on the shoulder, "I know it's not pretty, Tails, but we had no choice. There was no way we could get out of that fight peacefully. It'll get ugly at times, but we've just gotta keep going, right?"

Tails stood up and turned around to face him, smiling, "Yeah. Thanks, Sonic. I feel better now."

They then heard Knuckles say, "If you two are just about done, can we get back to work? I don't want to get ambushed by something else just because we aren't paying attention." Sonic and Tails grinned to each other before following Knuckles into the following hallway, dealing with more Fly Pods and climbing up a large tree-like structure in the next room, reaching the Navigation Booth marked on their map.

Afterwards, they passed through a hallway filled with Wavers before reaching a room where they were attacked by more Grippers. After dealing with them, they slid down a nearby slope, where they were attacked by Geemers and a trio Griptian that seemed to have been angered by a loud shriek that all three of them heard. Undeterred, they managed to defeat the Geemers and the Griptians and continued their investigation, climbing up a set of natural steps to reach a hatch.

Soon, after finding a way to get past a locked hatch in the hallway they entered, they found the Breeding Room, Sonic alerting Tails and Knuckles to be careful as they began to search it. All three of them carefully stepped into the cage area, moving slowly to minimize noise. Almost immediately after stepping inside, they found the body of a Lab Worker, his lab coat covered in green blood like the previous worker they had seen and his corpse in miserable shape. They wordlessly looked at each other and the scientist for about a minute before silently agreeing to leave, not particularly fond of sticking around. As they left, each of them could feel something in the air. It felt familiar in a way, a presence of some kind...

The team soon returned to the room where they were attacked by the Griptians. As they contemplated what to do next, they suddenly heard the sound of leaves rustling. Tails held a finger to his lips and both he and Sonic moved a few steps towards the direction they heard the sound coming from, stopping afterwards and looking around while Knuckles stood ready to attack in case it was something large.

Suddenly, Sonic's scope spotted a pink colored fruit laying next to a bush. After a moment, something seemed to push it, as it rolled out into the open and was immediately followed by a worm-like creature. As they watched its humorous attempts to eat the fruit, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles studied the worm's appearance. It appeared to be a larger type of annelid, as its red body was larger than most worms. It had three horns on its face, which it began to use to suck the juice out of the fruit. It stopped in the middle of its 'feeding' and turned to look at Team Sonic, looking at them with an eye between its three horns; after examining them for a moment, it slithered away into the bushes.

Suddenly, they heard a clicking sound behind them and turned to see that a previously locked hatch had now been unlocked. Moments afterward, Sonic received a transmission and set it so that Tails and Knuckles could hear it. It was from Shadow, who said, "Sonic, Tails, Knuckles. There should be a hatch near you that was just unlocked. Go through the hatch; your next destination is a little further ahead." The three of them nodded and began to move towards the hatch.

As he was about to follow Sonic and Knuckles through the hatch, Tails stopped short and turned around. The worm-like creature had come back out of the bushes and was now 'sitting' a fair distance away from him, seemingly looking at him. A moment of silence passed before Tails turned back around, stealing one last glance back over his shoulder before he followed after Sonic and Knuckles.

* * *

The name "Energy Ball" is actually the name of the shot that Tails uses in Sonic Battle. I looked it up after the last chapter to make sure I was using the right name for it. Just letting everybody know this.

The level one that Commander Tower mentions is a reference to the level system in Sonic Heroes. In this case, Omega is only authorized to use the machine guns in his arms. We'll probably see his flamethrowers and missiles later.

I was originally going to have Tails use the same Lethal Strike on the Ghalmanian that Samus uses in Other M, but I decided I wanted something a little more fitting for him and I think it turned out okay.


	5. Unnatural Predator

_**Some creatures, even certain Mobians, rely on the powers of others to capture their prey. Watching this creepy... worm thing, I felt as though it were feeding off of our power as well. At the same time, a thought crossed my mind. Before the Kihunters attacked us, I heard a roar... Could this creature have been the source?**_

_-Miles "Tails" Prower's thoughts after defeating the King Kihunter_

* * *

"Okay, so how are we supposed to get out of this room when we can't even get past this wall around us?" Knuckles growled in frustration. After leaving the wormlike creature behind, Team Sonic entered a room that appeared to be part of a forest or jungle. There were a pair of Fly Pods sitting along the sides of the room, but the team was able to destroy them and the Reo protecting them. According to their map, there should have been a door in the room that they could use to move on, but when they reached where it was supposed to be, there was no door and the way was blocked by a hidden wall.

"Knuckles, calm down! There's gotta be something in here that's creating that wall. We just have to find it," Tails said, attempting to calm down the echidna.

Sonic, who was leaning against the side of the path while seeming to enjoy listening to Knuckles' venting, glanced around. Suddenly, his eyes noticed something on a nearby ledge: it appeared to be glowing yellow and was spinning around like windmill blades. He tapped Tails on the shoulder and, when the fox looked at him, pointed, "Hey Tails, what's that thing up there?"

Both Tails and Knuckles looked where he was pointing, seeing what he was talking about. "Um... I'm not sure. I'll take a closer look," Tails replied, going near the ledge and leaping up onto it. When he got close to the object, a small tower-like structure appeared underneath it, the device's optic camouflage deactivating to reveal its true appearance. "Whoa!" Tails exclaimed upon seeing this. He walked over to the control panel on it and looked it over. "Hmm... 'Holographic Generator active,' huh? Well, let's try turning this terminal off," he muttered, pressing a few keys on the control panel.

Suddenly, the invisible wall began to materialize, the room's wall and the door the team was looking for appearing as they generator shut off. Due to the blue sky disappearing as well, the room also became somewhat darker. Tails leapt down from the ledge as Sonic and Knuckles came over, Sonic saying, "Pretty cool, Tails! How'd you do that?"

Tails replied, "I just shut that generator off. They must use them to make the rooms similar to the ones you saw on the SRL Station. We'll probably have to keep an eye out for them as we go."

Knuckles spoke, "Well, let's get moving, then! We've got things to do!" He then headed for the door, Sonic and Tails walking alongside him. The room beyond was a hallway that needed to be depressurized, similar to an airlock, to get the next door to open. Past it was another simulated environment; they could tell because there was a viewing area that looked like it was floating in midair. The room itself was mostly rocky, though it also included a small stream and waterfall, as well as some grass growing out of the ground in several places and a few trees that had a few leaves growing on their branches.

After dealing with the Reo that came to greet them, as well as the Fly Pod that they lived in, Team Sonic leapt up onto the rocky ledge that circled the room. As they walked along it, they noticed a creature curled up and sleeping in a corner. Tails' headset scanned it, the fox saying afterwards, "That's a Dragotix. They have two heads, one that breathes fire while the other eats prey. It has a glowing core in its stomach that seems to be sensitive." He glanced at his teammates and said, "Maybe we should just let it sleep..."

Sonic glanced at it and said, "Sure, why not? I don't like being woken up in the middle of a nap myself." With that, they continued past it, wading through the small stream to reach the room's Holographic Generator. Tails quickly deactivated it, the wall holding up the viewing area materializing after he was done.

Suddenly, a loud roar sounded through the room, catching all three of them by surprise. "W-what was that?" Tails asked nervously.

Sonic glanced back and said, "I don't know, but it looks like it woke Fido up!" Tails and Knuckles looked to see the Dragotix rising up on its two legs, letting out a growl as it did. Three Sidehoppers suddenly dropped down in front of them, either because they were enraged or they were going to help the Dragotix stop them. Knuckles grabbed one of them, lifting it up with one hand and throwing his free fist into it, sending it across the room and making it go splat against the opposite wall. Tails, meanwhile, got on top of one of the others and fired an Energy Ball into its head while Sonic grabbed the last one and jumped on top of it, doing a Spin Dash atop it.

With that, only the Dragotix was left, which had come across the stream to get closer to them and used its smaller mouth to shoot a jet of flames at them. Sonic and Knuckles leapt away while Tails made use of his Rhythm Badge to 'dance' around the flames. He circled the creature once like this, confusing it and giving Sonic time to use a Homing Attack to push it on the back of its legs, allowing Knuckles to hit the abdomen. After it fell, the team moved on.

One room and a hallway later, they came across a Navigation Booth, which was interestingly dark. The booth itself still worked, but the door that would take them further wouldn't open. After examining it, Tails concluded that it wasn't locked, but simply didn't have enough power. Looking at their updated map, Knuckles noticed that the Navigation Booth was connected to another room and looked to their left. There seemed to be a blast door blocking the way, but it was badly damaged, so all it took was one powerful punch from Knuckles to knock it off of its frame. Since they couldn't use the other door yet, the team decided to see what they could find in this direction.

The hallway beyond the door eventually led them to an elevator shaft, the elevator itself broken and stuck at the top of the shaft. After climbing up along the sides of the shaft, they found that some broken cables and wiring were keeping the elevator from moving. After the team had secured themselves in an alcove on the side, Sonic summoned his suit and fired a missile straight up at the damaged circuitry. The elevator started to move, but stopped when another mass of broken circuitry came out of the other side of the shaft.

Glancing down the shaft suddenly, Knuckles said, "Quick Sonic, cut the elevator loose!" Sonic and Tails looked down and saw why Knuckles said that: at the bottom of the shaft, trying to climb up, was another Ghalmanian. If they released the elevator, they'd kill two birds with one stone. So Sonic quickly took aim and fired another missile, the elevator falling immediately afterwards, crushing the Ghalmanian beneath it. With the way clear, they made it to the top of the shaft and continued on.

After running through a short hall, the trio found themselves in the viewing area they had seen earlier. Unfortunately, the only door there was the one they had just entered through. "Great. Now what are we supposed to do?" Knuckles groaned.

Tails looked around the room, his eyes coming to rest on what appeared to be a vent shaft cover. He walked over to it and kneeled down next to it, grabbing it and pulling it off. While looking down inside, he said, "This might lead somewhere. But it's too small for us to fit inside, and who knows how long it is..."

Sonic smiled, "No sweat, little buddy. Don't forget that this suit helps me fit into tight spaces like this." Before Tails could say anything, Sonic curled up into the Morph Ball and leapt down into the vent. He then began to follow the vent, bombing gray cubes of garbage as he went.

Back in the observation room, Tails sighed, "Sometimes, I wish he'd stop and listen for a moment before jumping headfirst into things."

Knuckles turned to him and said, "Hey, it's not like we have any other options at the moment, Tails. Besides, he's still got his scope and you've got your headset. We'll still be able to communicate with him, so relax."

Meanwhile, Sonic came to the end of the tunnel he was rolling through, being deposited in the Scrap Block. In addition to the garbage blocks, there were also Wavers flying around the room. Sonic wasn't prepared for this and ended up getting hit by one after coming out of Morph Ball mode, knocking him onto his back for a moment before he got up and began firing his beam at all of them. Once the room was secure, he ran up the set of stairs near the other side of the room, leaving the garbage room behind.

The room past the Scrap Block appeared to be a natural tunnel, as it was mostly made up of dirt. As he walked through it, he could feel the ground shake, making him think that someone was in there with him. He soon got his answer after dealing with a Gripper, as some type of large worm burst through the wall ahead, heading for him. Sonic managed to jump over it, but when he turned around to face it, it had already slithered away, disappearing into the ground. The blue hedgehog shrugged and turned back around, continuing with his search.

The search began to pay off after dealing with more Grippers, getting past the natural obstacles in a small tunnel, and rolling into part of a vent. The vent led him into the Subterranean Control Room; unfortunately, the door to the Navigation Booth was locked. Looking around the room, Sonic noticed a flicker in the air and turned towards it, firing a missile at it. This revealed it to be another Ghalmanian, which was knocked onto the ground upon being hit by the missile. Sonic took the chance to deliver a Lethal Strike, firing a charged beam shot into its head, and then dealing with its friend similarly. With both of them defeated, the safety lock on the Navigation Booth door disengaged, allowing Sonic to enter.

While standing under the booth, Sonic used the communicator built into his suit to call Tails while he waited for the shield restoration to finish. "Hey Tails, can you hear me?" he asked.

The young fox's voice came from the other end, "I read you, Sonic. Where are you?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "I found the Subterranean Control Room. There might be something here that can get power flowing to that door again. I'll let you know if I find anything." With that, he ended the communication, stepping off the platform and proceeding into the next room.

After stepping inside, the door locked behind him and part of the ceiling suddenly moved, two robots coming out afterwards. Sonic's suit identified them as FG-1000s, a type of mass-produced guard robot. At first, they attempted to ram into him one at a time, charging at him from the sides and behind, then they briefly tried to shoot him with their beams. Their scan indicated they exposed their weak point when they were charging, so he fired Charge Beam shots at them before they fired at him.

The dodging and shooting continued for several minutes, another FG-1000 appearing after the first one was destroyed. It was soon destroyed along with the second one, this one dropping some sort of rainbow-colored orb afterwards. He walked over to it and kneeled, touching it with his left hand. When he did, his suit gave off a kind of glow for a moment before it faded, Sonic standing up afterwards. He then glanced down at his right wrist as it glowed suddenly, his suit sending him data on this new upgrade, which it called the Diffusion Beam.

Sonic didn't have to wait long to test the new beam, as the wall opposite the door opened, revealing a terminal, a swarm of Reo, and their Fly Pods. Sonic charged up his beam and fired once it was ready. The Diffusion Beam caused the shot to spread out when it hit one of the Reo, catching all the others in the blast. More Reo came afterwards, but the Diffusion Beam kept them in check, Sonic taking a moment where there weren't any to attack the Fly Pods with missiles. Six missiles later, Sonic was the only one left in the room, so he crossed over to the terminal and looked at it and the screen above it. Apparently, someone had set the terminal to cut off power in certain areas of the Biosphere, so he reset it, causing the footage of the booth in the screen to light up, power being restored to the door and the rest of the room.

After a quick check-in with Tails, Sonic headed back towards the Morph Ball tunnel when some shaking caught his attention. Looking to his right, he saw part of the wall split open, the worm he had seen earlier roaring at him, disappearing back inside as another one made another hole in the wall. They began to pop their heads out of the wall and the ceiling, firing energy bombs at the blue hedgehog. After dodging for a minute, Sonic managed to hit one, which his suit identified as a Namihe, forcing it out of the wall. It quickly recovered and began to fire more bombs at him, Sonic dodging and firing a Charge Beam shot when he had the chance. This left it stunned, so Sonic went in and dealt a Lethal Strike to it, firing a charged shot into its mouth. The other worm, identified as Fune, took a little more punishment to get out and stun, but it still fell in much the same way.

Afterwards, Sonic rolled into the small tunnel, finding that the small device he had passed earlier was activated. It was some kind of launcher, so he rolled inside and planted a Morph Ball Bomb, the explosion sending him rocketing through the passage he was fired up into. At the end of the line, he was shot out of a puddle in the room where they had heard the roar, right next to Dragotix! Sonic quickly got out of the way and dispatched it with a few missiles, getting up to the top of the room afterwards and making his way back to the Navigation Booth.

Tails and Knuckles were waiting for him when he stepped inside the room, the three of them moving on past the formerly locked door. The room they entered looked like it could've been a small habitat had the walls been a little farther apart. There were a few Geemers and Wavers here, as well as another Holographic Generator. After they had dealt with the Geemers and Wavers and examined the room a bit, Tails went up to activate the Holographic Generator to see if it could help them. It made the room appear to be part of a large forest, but they still couldn't get past the regular walls. While mulling over this, Sonic noticed that part of the regular wall was still visible, like it was a glitch in the system or something. Knuckles decided to investigate with his fists, which resulted in revealing a hole large enough for them to walk through. Knuckles went first, followed by Tails and then Sonic, coming across a hole that led further down.

The hole led them to a natural tunnel, where they found several groups of Reo trapped in some type of webbing. After dealing with them, a pair of Grippers, and a Griptian that Knuckles managed to stun and take out by himself, the three of them entered the Biological Experiment Floor, which contained a large tree-like structure. They ran up the winding pathway around the structure, dealing with the Whipvines and Grippers that were protecting it as they went. At the top, they found a hole leading inside the structure, Tails going down first with his namesakes spinning in case there was anything dangerous down below.

At the bottom, he found what appeared to be a nest for Zoros, the brown creatures mingling together on the floor. Sonic and Knuckles leapt down to join him after he reported that everything was okay. The team tried to move through the room without disturbing them when they suddenly heard that roar again, causing them to freeze in place. The Zoros weren't very happy about it, evidently, as they began to rear up and shake all over. As Team Sonic watched, they suddenly realized that there were Kihunters in the room too. The creatures buzzed around angrily, seeming to be agitated at the team's presence.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles split up when they Kihunters attempted to charge them. With the door locked and no other alternative, the three of them began to attack back, trying to stop the enraged creatures. As they were fighting, Tails called to his teammates when he noticed that the Whipvines attached to the hive had opened. It was a good thing, too; they all fired balls of energy at the team that would've gone unseen had Tails not alerted them. Turning their attention away from the Kihunters, the three of them quickly dispatched the Whipvines, wanting to deal with as few troubles as possible.

After all of the Whipvines had been destroyed, the nest itself fell to the ground, the bottom breaking open to reveal a swarm of Kihunters and a King Kihunter inside. The Kihunters were persistent, but Sonic's Diffusion Beam kept them in check while Tails fired Energy Balls at the king whenever he had a clear shot. It took a little time, but the king eventually fell, letting out one last cry before its body turned gray, as did part of the inside of the hive. The remaining Kihunters flew up through the hole that Team Sonic had entered the room through afterwards.

As the three of them caught their breaths, they heard what sounded like a creature eating nearby. Looking where the parts from the broken hive had scattered, they found the worm they had seen earlier near the Breeding Room eating one of the pieces and noisily devouring the honey left on it. "That's the worm we saw earlier... Has it been following us this entire time?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, for something that can follow behind us so well, it sure is noisy," Tails commented, looking a little disgusted as he watched it eat.

After a moment longer, Sonic said, "Let's get going, guys. This is kind of gross." He began to move towards the door, Tails and Knuckles walking close behind him, all of their eyes still on the worm. It briefly seemed to notice them, as it gave what sounded like a growl in their direction, before turning its attention back to the hive.

Sonic's communicator beeped, Shadow's voice coming through, "Sonic. Head to the Biosphere Test Area. The Exam Center there should contain some important information about this facility. The members of Sigma-Alpha 2 are currently en route, as is my team. Meet up with us there." Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles nodded to each other after the link went dead, then ran through the nearby door, leaving the worm to enjoy its feast in silence.

* * *

Sorry about the wait for this chapter. This one was a little hard to write, and life kind of got in the way as well. It's not really anything special, but from now on, I'll be sure to get back to updating this on a somewhat regular basis. Please stick around for the rest of this; it'll start picking up with the next chapter.


	6. Forbidden Experimenting

_**Although I find Sonic to be irritating and unpredictable most of the time, I do have an idea of how his mind works. He's against the whole idea of bioweapons and, in general, the use of living things for unnecessary reasons. It doesn't matter what form life takes when it's born into what's often a cruel universe. It should never be tampered with. That's one philosophy that both he and Shadow can agree on.**_

_-Knuckles the Echidna_

* * *

"Geez, they can even simulate rain in this place?" Sonic asked as he instinctively held his arm up to shield his face from the falling water droplets. After surviving their encounter with the King Kihunter in the Biological Experiment Floor, Team Sonic began making their way towards the Biosphere Test Area to meet up with Team Dark and Team Sigma-Alpha 2.

Following the route given to them by the next Navigation Booth they entered, they soon came across a hallway that was partially filled with water. They quickly got through after taking care of the Whipvines on the ceiling, Knuckles using the wall to reach the other side while Tails carried Sonic over after he deactivated his suit.

They got through the next room pretty quickly as well, despite the fact that it contained water and the equipment for controlling the water level was malfunctioning. After determining where the hatch to the next room was, they went into flight formation to get up to it easily. That hatch led them into their current room, a simulated rainforest-like environment complete with simulated rainfall.

"Yeah, but that's all it is, Sonic. It's not real; it's not even making my fur wet," Tails said, Sonic reluctantly letting his arm drop at that.

"Are you sure about that, Tails? It feels real to me; it's even rolling down my dreadlocks like real water would!" Knuckles said.

Tails looked around the room and noticed a Holographic Generator on a platform connected to a tree. "Hang on. I'll turn that generator off and we'll see what's real and what's not in this room." Spinning his tails, he flew towards the tree and up onto the platform, landing right beside the generator's control console. After a moment of typing on it, the rain stopped falling and the room's real appearance was slowly revealed. The trees they had seen were actually bundles of energy tubes, but the grass and water on the ground remained where they were.

Suddenly, a large tree-like creature standing in one of the puddles of water unraveled itself, revealing its six spidery legs, an avian head atop a thin, jointed neck, and a large, orange bulb underneath its central core. Almost immediately after spotting the team, it launched three purple orbs out of its back, one for each of them. The team quickly scattered, Tails spinning his namesakes around to make a quick leap off of the platform while Sonic leapt onto a bundle of cables and shot towards the creature, Knuckles doing the same. Sonic hit its side with a Spin Dash while Knuckles slammed his fist into its other side, but neither of them hurt it much.

After landing, Tails used his headset to scan the creature while Sonic and Knuckles got out of the way of another series of purple orbs. After a moment, he called, "Sonic, Knuckles! That thing's a Groganch and its only weak spot is that orange bulb on its underside!" While saying this, he dashed towards the spider-like creature and went into a slide as he got close, using the water to slide under it and fire several Energy Balls up at the orange bulb. After Tails got out from under it, Knuckles charged in and jumped up at it, hitting it with an uppercut.

Whether it was because of the punch or some other reason, the Groganch flipped itself over so that its bulb was facing upwards! Sonic crouched down and said, "I've got this one covered!" He then began to spin again, wisps of energy coming into contact with him as he spun in place. After a moment, he came out of his spin and said, "Ready… GO!" He then launched into a Light Speed Attack, hitting the bulb numerous times before coming out of the attack and landing right at the edge of a puddle.

After that, the Groganch continued to flip itself over while trying to attack the team, but Sonic kept coming at it with Homing Attacks while Tails attacked with Dummy Ring Bombs and Knuckles threw in a few punches whenever he had the chance and it soon fell. They left its remains behind and headed up to another Navigation Booth at the top of an elevator shaft in one of the corners of the room. After a quick stop, they continued on to the Biosphere Test Area coming across another broken elevator shaft, several more rooms and hallways, and plenty of restless creatures along the way.

A short while later, they got through a large room containing more Groganch after defeating them and finding the Terminal they needed to access to unlock the hatch leading to the Navigation Booth they had to pass through on the way. After a quick run through the following room, they arrived at the Biosphere Test Area. It looked pretty impressive to them, since the room they were in was a large plain under a blue sky filled with drifting clouds. No doubt it was another simulated environment, but they couldn't see a generator for it anywhere. On the opposite side of the plain was the Exam Center that Shadow had mentioned. The three of them got into speed formation, Tails and Knuckles right behind Sonic as they ran across the plain towards the large building.

Inside, they rode the elevator in the lobby up to the top floor, the humming of the elevator and their own breathing the only sounds they could hear. The elevator soon reached its destination, depositing them in a darkened hallway. They walked as quietly as they could through the hall, not knowing what could be awaiting them and none of them willing to take a chance in the close quarters they were in. As they walked, they found the remains of several robots on the floor, all of them having been pretty badly damaged. The damage looked recent too, which told them that they were not the first ones to arrive. They kept going, hoping that whoever had arrived first was either friendly or had already left.

Their progress was briefly hindered by a hatch that was locked due to the power being out, but a quick search through a nearby hole by Sonic solved that problem. With the power back on, they made their way through another short room before coming across a staircase in the room that followed. At the top, they found a hatch that had seemingly been forced open, as part of it was shooting off a few sparks and it was open only partway. Sonic went first to investigate; as he was about to go around a section of the wall, he heard a sound suggesting that someone was there. Pressing up against the wall, he poked his head out from behind it to see who it was. He was relieved when he saw a familiar dark blue suit and, when the person turned around, a faded 'SA2' on the helmet. "James!" Sonic spoke, both to greet him and to let Tails and Knuckles know that it was safe.

As Tails and Knuckles came in, the mustached man deactivated his visor and, after stealing a quick glance at the computer console he was standing in front of, said, "Hey Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles." The team walked up to him before the sound of footsteps filled the room and they all turned to see two other members of the Sigma-Alpha 2 enter the room along with Team Dark. After everyone was sure that they were all on the same side, James asked, "Where's Rico?"

Spike, as he opened his visor, said, "Looks like he's running late."

While Honch walked over to the computer console and began to fiddle with it, Sonic turned to Shadow and jokingly asked, "What took you guys so long to get here?"

Shadow simply replied, "You three were already here." Sonic frowned somewhat at this.

Honch spoke up, "Hey, the CPU seems to have self-destructed…" He sat down in the nearby chair and continued, "The central system is broken into parts, but I think I might be able to restore it and recover some of the data. Let's try it." Everybody looked on as his fingers danced across the keyboard, James seeming to be especially interested in what Honch was doing.

Rouge spoke, "Like Shadow said, there might be some pretty crucial information hidden here. Why don't we search the rest of this building while Honch does his magic?" Everyone agreed, Rouge smiling to herself, "_I wonder if any of the scientists here were carrying any gems. I've already got one with me, but I could always go for another._"

Spike and James headed for the nearby staircase, starting their search. Sonic was about to follow when he and Tails noticed Knuckles looking out the window. They approached him and Tails asked, "Knuckles, is something wrong?"

The red echidna replied, "No, nothing. I was just admiring the view. Kind of reminds me of Angel Island…" After another moment, Team Sonic followed after Spike and James, Team Dark following behind them since Shadow appeared to be preoccupied by something. They went through the hatch leading to a Navigation Booth, the door in there leading them to another hallway. They saw more damage as they walked, noting that there were dents in the floor and walls and that the lights occasionally flickered.

At the end of the hallway, they entered a lounge-like area. Team Dark moved onto the next room, leaving Team Sonic to search the area. Sonic checked the papers that were scattered on the floor, Knuckles checked the locked door near the hatch that Shadow's team had exited through, and Tails looked at the vending machine-like lockers against the wall. He said, to no one in particular, "Books on CD? Let's see… 'The Various Branches of Biology', 'Chemistry and Mathematics: The Formula to Success', 'Physics for Dummies…'" He glanced over at Sonic and Knuckles, who had heard him and were listening as he read off the names, and asked, "'Tuesdays with Morrie'?"

Sonic and Knuckles shrugged, Sonic saying, "Well, you gotta look at something other than science all the time. Anyway, it looks like there's nothing in here that can help us, so let's see where Shadow went." Tails and Knuckles nodded before they all headed for the hatch Team Dark had left through, Knuckles taking the lead. The room past the short hallway they walked out into looked like it was some kind of lab, as there were a bunch containment tubes for holding some type of life form. They passed Team Dark, Spike, and James as they moved on to the next room, leaving them to their investigating.

They soon entered a circular room with six hatches, including the one they had just entered through. They glanced around at all of them before Tails asked, "Which one do we take?"

Knuckles began walking over to the one on the far left, saying, "Just pick one, Tails. Unless we find something, it doesn't make a difference!" Sonic and Tails shrugged to each other, then Tails headed for the hatch on the far right while Sonic headed for the one in the center.

Sonic stepped through his hatch, finding that it was a dead-end, just like Tails and Knuckles' hatches. A sudden beeping sound, however, caught his attention and he turned to his left to see something falling towards him! He dove to the side, rolling on the ground when he landed, and turned around to face his attacker, only to find it lying on the ground.

The sound had caught Tails and Knuckles' attention too and they ran over to see what happened. After they saw that Sonic was okay, they all examined the thing that had fallen, Tails soon saying, "I think it's a Black Warrior, but… I mean, look at it!"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah. It looks more like a robot than an alien. It's like it's been… roboticized or something."

Tails asked, "'Roboticized?' Is that even a term?"

Knuckles was looking down at the robot-like Black Warrior when he noticed something on its chest. Taking a closer look, he found that it was the insignia of the United Federation. "Hey guys, look at this! Maybe Shadow knows something about this!" he said.

Once Sonic and Tails saw what Knuckles was referring to, Sonic reached into his quills and pulled out his infrared scope to contact Shadow. Over in the other room, Shadow's communicator beeped. He pulled it out and clicked it on, saying, "What is it?"

On the other end, Sonic said, "Shadow, check this out!" Shadow pressed a button on his communicator and the screen displayed what Sonic was looking at. As Shadow and Rouge looked at the screen, Sonic spoke, "It looks like one of your dead relatives… but more robot-like. And it's got the symbol of the Federation on it. What's going on here?"

Shadow replied, "I don't know. Keep searching, though. There may be more evidence in this building somewhere."

Suddenly, Honch's voice came in through everyone's communicators, "Everyone, come back here! I've got something!" At that, everyone quickly made their way back to the observation room, eager to know what he had uncovered.

After everyone returned to the room and gathered around the computer console, Honch spoke, "All right. So far I've managed to recover one piece of data." Looking at the data displayed on the screen, he said, "This BOTTLE SHIP is under management of the United Federation. In these facilities, life-forms from each planet have been raised and researched as possible bioweapons. Site Manager and Development Director: Dr. Madeline Bergman."

Sonic turned to Shadow, asking, "Shadow, was the United Federation really experimenting with bioweapons?"

The black hedgehog replied, "It looks like it."

Sonic said, "I thought that was still illegal!"

Shadow nodded, "Of course it is."

Tails asked, "Who's Madeline Bergman?"

Rouge said, "Must be the lady in charge here. I don't suppose you have anything on her, Omega?"

The hulking robot replied, "NEGATIVE."

Shadow turned back to Honch and asked, "Is that all you've got?"

Honch typed on the keyboard in front of him as he said, "I've almost gotten it completely restored. But I'll bet they've protected this thing with a seriously sophisticated security system. If I can't get past it James, that'll be where you come in."

The fellow soldier replied, "Leave it to me. Shouldn't be a problem to hack into this thing. I mean, it might tell us what exactly was going on here. Looks like this might take some time, though."

Spike spoke, "This Madeline lady might be in this building somewhere. We might as well check the rest of the building now." Everyone nodded, both Spike and James activating their visors before they headed back up into the Navigation Booth. Team Dark followed with Team Sonic following soon afterwards.

While James and Team Dark went back to the laboratory-like area to do some more investigating, Spike and Team Sonic went into what appeared to be a conference room, seeing as it had two long tables and multiple seats set up behind them. Sonic and Knuckles stayed with Spike, looking over some of the documents that were scattered on the floor. Tails, meanwhile, went through the nearby hatch into a short hallway that led to another circular room. All the hatches were open in this one, and some of them appeared to be connected to each other in some way. The fox headed for the second hatch from the left, moving quietly across the metal floor.

Just as he was about to see what lay beyond the door, the sound of something splashing behind him made him freeze in place. "W-what was that?" he whispered, turning around slowly. He noticed a small puddle on the floor near the center of the room. Glancing upwards, he spotted several of the robotic Black Warriors clinging onto the ceiling, looking down at him. One of them roared in his direction before they all leapt down, three of them surrounding him. The one that roared attempted to grab him, but Tails ducked out of its way and made a run for the hatch, only to find two more blocking it.

Suddenly, the hatch behind them slid open and Sonic and Knuckles burst through, Sonic hitting one with a Homing Attack while Knuckles threw his fist into the other's back. Before they could come all the way into the room, Tails said, "Wait! I've got this!" He then turned around to face the other three.

Before Sonic could object, Shadow's voice sounded over the building's loudspeakers, "I want everyone to evacuate the area. Tails! Your orders are to eliminate all enemy targets!" The hatch then slid shut behind Tails, keeping Sonic and Knuckles from reaching him.

Almost immediately afterwards, the Black Warriors lunged at Tails, who spun his twin tails around to make a quick dash towards them, going under the warrior in front of him. As they turned around to face him, Tails used his Rhythm Badge to spin around, bowling into them and sending them flying, one landing on the one Sonic had hit in the back. Tails then summoned his arm cannon and fired an Energy Ball at the one that was closest to him. The one Knuckles had hit tried to attack him from behind, but his ears picked up the sound of its footsteps and he leapt up, landing on its shoulders and wrapping his legs around its neck. He then twisted around, managing to knock it off balance while his namesakes spun to keep him in the air after he let go. He then fired an Energy Ball into its back before it could recover.

Before he could react, however, he was suddenly swatted down to the floor like a fly by another one of the Black Warriors. He managed to roll out of the way before it could bring its foot down on his head, though, and leapt up, throwing a Dummy Ring Bomb into its chest before it could move. The explosion knocked it onto its back, so Tails dashed up to it and, as it was standing up, grabbed its head with his hand and spun around, bringing it back down onto the floor while he stood behind it. Summoning his arm cannon, he fired an Energy Ball into its neck, destroying it in a shower of sparks and green. They seemed to be more mechanical than flesh, though, so Tails could still fight without holding back.

Tails managed to deal with the rest of the Black Warriors after some more battling, though he still suffered a few injuries from them. The last two were especially tricky, each of them having gone into a separate hallway to hide, but he still took them out. Afterwards, the hatch leading out slid open, Sonic and Knuckles running inside and going to help Tails after they saw him hurt. After all, if their friend was in danger, there wasn't an order in the universe that could get them to leave him behind.

Afterwards, they headed back to the Navigation Booth and then back to the observation room. As they entered, they felt something shake the building and ran to the window to see what was going on. Outside, they could see Team Dark and Sigma-Alpha 2 engaged in battle with some of the creatures they had encountered in the Biosphere. Sonic noticed that there was a small hole in one of the nearby windows, so he curled up into a ball and shot out right next to it, making the hole big enough for Tails and Knuckles to follow him through. The team quickly joined in the brawl, each of them tackling a different enemy.

Tails leapt back as he fired an Energy Ball at a Griptian, sending it flying and temporarily paralyzing it. Suddenly, he heard a roar coming from above him and turned around, looking up to see a large black creature jumping down from the side of the Exam Center towards him! Gravity caused it to fall faster than the fox could move and it landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground. The quadruped creature glared down at him with its three red eyes, its mouth open so that he could see its sharp teeth.

Tails glanced up to see that Sonic and the others were preoccupied by the arrival of more Reo and Griptians, meaning he was on his own at the moment. Looking back up at the beast holding him, Tails noticed the spiked tail behind it, which made him think of Eggman's old Skorp Badnik. It whipped it towards him and he instinctively moved his head to the side to avoid having the sharp end separate his head and neck. After avoiding another strike, Tails brought up his free right hand and summoned his arm cannon. When it prepared to attack again, Tails fired an Energy Ball at it, the electricity causing damage to the mystery creature.

Tails continued to do his best at hitting the tail before it could hit him, moving his head as best he could when he couldn't get a hit. It seemed to catch onto his maneuvers and grabbed him by his neck, restricting his head's movements while not cutting off his air. As it prepared to end his life, Sonic suddenly struck it in the side with a Spin Dash, his quills acting like saw blades as he spun into it. It left a rather sizable cut in the creature's side, even spraying green blood as it flew through the air.

It seemed to convulse after landing on its back, but it soon calmed down and flipped itself over, turning around to face Sonic. It seemed about ready to attack him, but then it noticed Tails next to him, both of them in an offensive position. It dashed away when Sonic used another Spin Dash, then changed direction when Tails tried to hit it with an Energy Ball. It leapt into the air and crashed through the side of a building that was being hidden by the holographic projection, leaving their sight.

Sonic turned to Tails afterwards and asked, "That was pretty tight, Tails. You okay?"

The fox replied, "Now I am. What took you so long?"

Sonic replied, "Sorry, little bro. Had my hands full with a Griptian that wanted to have a spinning competition with me. I would've used the Plasma Beam to help, but then I'd probably have to get a lecture from G.I. Joke over there." He thrust a thumb in Shadow's direction, Tails managing to crack a smile at what Sonic said.

Knuckles came over soon afterwards to make sure Tails was okay. Sonic noticed during this time that Shadow had a troubled look on his face, like he'd seen something he really didn't want to see. Suddenly, they all heard James call, "Hey! Come over here!" Team Sonic and Team Dark made their way over to where James, Spike, and Honch were standing. When Shadow asked what he had called them for, James replied, "Rico's down!" Looking down at the dark skinned soldier, he said, "He looks like a pile of rags… What's gotta happen to a guy to make him look like that?"

Tails looked away, even though he couldn't see Rico from where he, Sonic, and Knuckles were, and noticed a green puddle on the ground. He tapped Sonic's arm with his hand before moving to investigate, the blue hedgehog turning around and following him after he noticed where he was going. They followed the trail to the other side of a destroyed six wheel vehicle, where they found the worm they had seen earlier near the side of it. "Sonic… Is it…?" Tails whispered.

Sonic walked closer to the worm to check, bending down on one knee and giving it a light push. It rolled onto its front at this motion, allowing Sonic to see that the back had been ripped open. "It's empty? Kind of like a cocoon…" Sonic muttered. He stood up and told Tails and Knuckles, who had come over when he saw where they were, about it.

After he was finished, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega came over, Shadow saying, "Looks like that monster from earlier has infiltrated Sector 3. Omega's sensors managed to track it to the entrance through that hatch before losing it. We're going after it, got it?" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles nodded, the two teams running side-by-side towards the hatch that had been revealed due to the damage caused by the creature. The remaining members of the SA2 went back the way they came, having been given their own set of orders.

Through the hatch, they found a short passage leading to what must've been an elevator shaft. Sonic and Shadow went first, bouncing off the walls to reach the bottom without breaking their legs. Tails and Rouge came next, using their means of flight to descend down the shaft. Knuckles glided over to one of the walls to climb down, but Omega took the more direct route. Seeing what he intended to do, Knuckles called, "Heads up below!" Everyone looked up to see Omega jump off the edge, falling towards them. Sonic grabbed Tails while Shadow grabbed Rouge, both of them moving to get away from the walking arsenal's landing spot. When Omega landed, he went through the floor, everything below his waist getting stuck under the floor. After Knuckles got down to the bottom, everyone worked together to pull the hulking robot out.

Afterwards, for the first time, they took a look at their surroundings. The floor and walls were covered with the same green blood that the creature had been leaking. Unfortunately, judging by the broken cables and bits on the floor, it had escaped through the ceiling, which meant it wouldn't be easy to find now. After glancing at each other, they all moved ahead towards the hatch leading into Sector 3, where it had to be nursing its injury somewhere.

Meanwhile, back at the Exam Center, a beeping sound was coming from the observation room on the top floor. The sound surely would've been noticed by anyone inside, but the building was completely deserted. The beeping started to increase in frequency, and soon a large explosion erupted from within, the building's key structural points being hit by the explosion. Soon, the entire building collapsed into a pile of rubble…

* * *

Hey, look! It's risen up from the ashes! But in all seriousness, I'm sorry about neglecting this story for so long. I won't make any excuses. My inspiration for this story seems to be back, so I'll do my best to remember to update it.

Anyway, onto the chapter notes. I thought that the rain in that one room in Sector 1 had to be realistic in some way, since if you go into first person view, you can see it splattering on Samus' helmet. But since it's simulated, the feeling of it would all be in your head.

The whole books on CD thing is meant to be a joke. I know those things are supposed to be vending machines, but I changed them to being like lockers to see if anyone would get a chuckle out of that. You can't exactly see what's inside those cases anyway, even if you look at them.

Tails' confusion over Sonic's use of the word 'roboticized' stems from the fact that this takes place in the Sonic X comic universe. The only interaction that universe has had with a universe that has roboticizing was in issue 40 of the comics, the last issue before Sonic Universe arrived. Thus, they aren't familiar with the concept of roboticization.

The new mystery creature looks similar to the one in 'Metroid: Other M,' but it's black and red instead of purple and green and its mouth doesn't look similar to a bird's.

I think that's it. Let me know if there's anything else that seems confusing.

Music:

Heading for the Biosphere - Zoness (Star Fox 64)

The Exam Center - Intruder 3 (Metal Gear Solid)

Illegal Actions - Cavern (Metal Gear Solid)

Tails vs. Black Warriors - Sector 1 (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Attack on the Exam Center - Encounter (Metal Gear Solid)

Hunting the Mystery Creature - Theme of Solid Snake (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake)


	7. Hot and Cold

_**It was clear that there were bioweapons being developed on board the BOTTLE SHIP, though whether the president authorized this or it was being headed by more people like the S.O.N.I.C.X. wasn't clear yet. I wonder if Shadow already knew about this. Either way, I knew we had to find the person in charge, Madeline Bergman. She's probably the only one who can tell us more, but she'd have to be alive in order to do that.**_

_-Miles "Tails" Prower_

* * *

As they stepped through the hatch leading into Sector 3, Tails glanced around suddenly and asked, "Hey, what was that?"

Sonic turned to him and asked, "What's the matter, Tails?"

Tails replied after a moment, "I, uh, I thought I felt the ground shake just now. Like there was an earthquake or something."

Omega spoke up, "NEGATIVE. IT WAS AN EXPLOSION. MY SENSORS INDICATE THAT IT CAME FROM THE BIOSPHERE TEST AREA."

Shadow said, "We'll look into it later. We have to hunt down that creature, and we'll start by searching the areas that are open to us right now. We'll determine weapon and equipment authorization after we get a better understanding of the situation." Everyone nodded, agreeing with Shadow's orders.

Shadow took the lead, Rouge and Omega following behind him while Team Sonic stayed behind them. The first room they entered was a short glass corridor connected to a small compartment-like area, which led to a longer glass corridor. As they ran through it, dealing with the Skrees, Mellas, and a Heat Bull along the way, they could see a creature leaping into and out of the lava to their left. When they were almost to the end of the corridor, the creature leapt out of the lava underneath the tube they were in, aiming for Shadow! The black hedgehog saw it coming, though, and used his air shoes to dash forward while everyone else began to slide to a stop.

Shadow rolled on his side when landed, avoiding being eaten by the creature while everyone else managed to avoid stopping right on top of it. It created a hole in the tube, but everyone was able to get onto Shadow's side and continued their search. They made a quick stop in a Navigation Booth to get some of the map data for Sector 3 and then moved onto the area outside of the corridor they were in earlier.

The path before them was made up of rocky formations that made a path across the lava. It was also incredibly hot, as they were standing just above the lava. As they began to make their way to the other side, however, the creature from before leapt out of the lava, going from one side of the formation to the other. They soon saw part of it stick out above the surface of the lava, like the fin on a shark's back. "Looks like that thing's still wondering what's for dinner and thinks we're the main course!" Sonic said.

Rouge said, "I don't know about you, boys, but I'm not particularly fond of where we are. My makeup is being ruined and there's not really any room to fight with that thing."

Knuckles growled, "So what do you suggest we do then, O fearless leader? Play hopscotch with it?"

Shadow turned to Omega and said, "Omega, I'm authorizing Level 2 weaponry! See if you can take that thing out while we make our way across!" Omega seemingly gleefully retracted his hands and prepared his weapons. When Shadow leapt to the first stone, the creature leapt out of the lava with its mouth open. Shadow slid across the ground while Omega fired his flamethrowers at it, which knocked it back far enough for it to collide into a rock. Shadow yelled back, "Come on, move it!"

At his call, Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles took off from the ground, Tails and Rouge flying while Knuckles glided, keeping watch out for the creature while Sonic, Shadow, and Omega leapt from rock to rock and ran across the longer ones. While they were running across a longer rock, the creature leapt at them again and Omega fired his flamethrowers into its mouth before moving out of its path. Sonic noticed this and called to Shadow, "Hey Shadow, I don't think flamethrowers are gonna do much against that thing!"

Shadow called back, "I know, but Omega's been whining about having his weapons restricted. If this will make him stop for a while, I don't care if he manages to hurt that thing or not!" They soon reached the other side and Sonic and Shadow made a beeline for the hatch, Tails and Rouge flying close behind them while Knuckles had to force Omega to leave the area. Once they were all through, the lights on the hatch went from green to red, indicating that it was now locked.

The room they ended up in contained Cyborg Black Arms and a burning Fly Pod that served as a nest for Mellas. Knuckles and Rouge immediately went to work on the Black Arms, their cybernetics not able to withstand a beating from Knuckles' fists and Rouge's Screw Kick. The Fly Pod, on the other hand, would be a little trickier to deal with. The bullets from Omega's machine guns burned up before they could make contact and the Mellas that were emerging from the pod made it hard for Tails to hit it from long range. Shadow managed to destroy it with a Chaos Spear, then turned to Sonic and said, "Looks like we should be prepared to deal with high temperature creatures in this area. You can use your Ice Beam now, Sonic."

Sonic grinned, "Sweet!" He summoned his suit and glanced over at his right arm as a green glow surrounded the spot where the beam was contained. After the glow faded, he turned to a nearby wall and fired a beam composed of ice at it, covering part of the wall with a layer of ice. Sonic said, "Looks like it works fine. Are we ready to go now, Shadow?" The black hedgehog nodded and led the way into the next room.

The room they entered and the one that followed it were both filled with sand and had vents that expelled flames. The first one was filled with Novas that were easy to take down, but they encountered some Dessgeegas that popped out from under the ground in the following room. Their ability to hop made them annoying, but Sonic's Ice Beam was able to immobilize them by temporarily freezing their legs to the ground. Once the room was clear, they headed for the hatch at the other end of the room. Before they left, Omega spoke, "UNUSUAL…"

Rouge turned to him and asked, "What now, Omega?"

The hulking robot replied, "I DETECT AN ANOMALY IN THE DOOR SYSTEMS. I WOULD NOT ADVISE GOING BACK THE WAY WE CAME."

Shadow said, "We can't go back anyway, Omega. The hatch was locked when we left, what would be the point of backtracking if we can't get that far to begin with? Come on, let's keep moving." The next room had two elevator-like shafts, the two teams having to climb up the first one and go down the second one partway. There, Omega destroyed a door that was connected to a conduit so that they could all get past it and they headed through the next hatch into a Navigation Booth.

After adding to their map data, the two teams headed back out into the searing heat, once again making their way across rocks that were floating on top of the lava. Because there were more rocks clustered around the area, they didn't have to worry about the creature from earlier coming after them again, but they did have to deal with Magdolites as they made their way over to the other side. Sonic's Ice Beam easily dispatched them, though, and they soon arrived on the other side, at which point they rushed to the hatch they found to get out of the heat.

The hallway they entered contained another burning Fly Pod and more Mellas, both of which were easily dispatched by Sonic and Shadow. They then headed through the hatch at the end of the hallway, which put them in the Floor Observation Room. Shortly after entering, a pair of Asboreans leapt out at them, forcing the two teams to scatter. They proved to be an annoyance when they were sliding across the floor and releasing clusters of their spawn, forcing Tails and Rouge to help their teammates stay off the ground while they were doing this. When they eventually stopped, Sonic helped propel Knuckles into one while Shadow went shooting towards the other one. After dancing around for a few minutes, Knuckles sent his Asborean into the wall, destroying it, while Shadow yanked his worm out of its armor and crushed it under his shoe.

With the room clear, Tails ran over to the main computer console and began checking the data that it contained. After several minutes, he reported, "Something's happening in the volcano up ahead! The lava levels inside the crater are fluctuating and it's disrupting the local systems in this sector!"

Shadow said, "All right. Sonic, go on ahead with your team and investigate the volcano. The temperature in the lava areas is supposed to be high, but I'm willing to bet that whatever's causing the disturbance is making them higher than normal."

Knuckles asked, "And what are you gonna do?"

Shadow answered, "We can't all go into that volcano. We'd just get in each other's way. We'll stay here and monitor the situation from here. If we detect anything, we'll alert you. You and Tails might want to put on one of the environmental suits they have in the lockers here, just in case it's worse inside the crater itself." He gestured to a line of lockers along the wall opposite the computer console. He then added, "Sonic, you should also activate the Varia feature on your suit so that you'll be protected against heat damage as well."

Sonic said, "I was wondering when you were gonna say that." He clicked a few buttons his right wrist and his suit soon turned back to the darker blue color that it had been at the end of the SRL Station disaster. Tails and Knuckles, meanwhile, found suits that would fit them inside the locker and put them on. Now properly equipped, Team Sonic made their way out of the Floor Observation Room, leaving Team Dark alone.

It wasn't easy reaching the hatch at the base of the volcano, due to the fact that it was launching lava bombs down into their path that contained Novas, but they managed to reach it without too much difficulty. After a quick stop in the Navigation Booth, they headed into the next room, where they were attacked by six Cyborg Black Warriors, three of them appearing at first and another one replacing the ones that fell. They were soon defeated, no match for Team Sonic's teamwork, at which point Tails went over to the nearby computer terminal and set it to lower the lava level in the volcano.

It seemed to do the trick as they could see the lava beneath the nearby sheet of glass go down, eventually exposing solid rock. Sonic noticed a hole that seemed to be connected to where the lava was and went into Morph Ball mode, rolling into the hole to check. When he came out of the passage, he walked to the edge of the ledge he was on and looked down. There was still a lot of lava below him, not too far down actually, but it seemed to have reached a stable level. Jumping up on a nearby rise, he called Tails on his communicator, "Looks like that did it, Tails. The lava's gone down to a safe level and… Wait!"

Tails asked, "Sonic, what is it?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "The lava's starting to rise! What's going on, Tails?" Not waiting for an answer, he began running for higher ground.

Tails fiddled with the keyboard on the terminal for a moment before saying, "I don't know! It's not set to rise! It should've receded most of the way so that the path we saw when we got the map data from the Navigation Booth became visible!"

Knuckles noticed that the lava had risen up to the glass again and yelled, "Move it, Sonic!"

As he was running, Sonic grinned, "Did you forget who you're talking to, Knux? You know I'm constantly on the move! Whoa!" The last exclamation was Sonic's reaction when a large hand reached out of the lava and tried to grab him. He managed to avoid it and continued going up the volcano's spiral-like pathway, defeating Mellas and avoiding the creature's hands as he went. Eventually, with the help of the Morph Ball, Sonic reached the top of the volcano, leaping out from between some rocks and landing on the edge of the crater.

Almost immediately after he landed, a hand reached out of the lava and grabbed him, holding him above the lava! Sonic began charging his beam, firing it when it was at full charge, causing the creature to release him. He managed to land back on the ledge and turned around to see the creature surfacing. It had several pairs of tentacles, a pair of clawed hands, and looked similar to a dragon. According to the scanner in Sonic's suit, it was called a Goyagma.

The creature attempted to hit Sonic by sliding its arm across the ground towards him, but the blue hedgehog easily leapt over it. It slid its other arm as well, but it completely missed him. As he looked at the Goyagma, Sonic noticed that a spot on its red neck appeared to be pulsating, which looked odd to him. He charged up an Ice Beam shot, leaping over the creature's arms while doing so, and fired the shot at its neck. After it hit, he noticed that the cold air seemed to be gathering around its neck, indicating the spot could be frozen. He fired two more charged blasts, resulting in a layer of ice forming around the Goyagma's neck.

Sonic activated his missiles and fired one at the ice around Goyagma's neck, the ice layer shattering and causing the creature to screech in pain. Sonic repeated this process several more times while dodging Goyagma's claws and the lava globs it threw, and eventually the spot on its neck stopped pulsating red. That seemed to make it angry, as it let out a roar and its arms erupted into flames. It then began to slam its hands against the ground Sonic was standing on, causing lava to shoot out from underneath it. Even though he was in his suit, Sonic was still as quick as ever, allowing him to dodge the hands and the pillars of lava that shot out of the ground.

After dodging its hand several times, the creature seemed to tire, as it left its right hand on the ground and began panting. Sonic took this opportunity to fire a charged Ice Beam shot at its hand, freezing it and the rest of the creature's arm. While it struggled to free its hand, Sonic ran up the arm, reaching its shoulder as the ice broke off. He then grabbed onto the side of the Goyagma's head and flipped himself around, ending up on top of its head, where he fired a charged Ice Beam shot down at it. He then leapt back to the safety of the crater edge as it roared in pain and turned around to face it, knowing it wasn't finished yet.

The Goyagma briefly went back under the lava before resurfacing, sending a line of lava bombs flying along the edge of the crater. After Sonic narrowly dodged them, the Goyagma submerged itself again and, when it resurfaced, began sliding its arms across the ground again, managing to hit Sonic a few times. After firing another line of lava bombs, it began slamming its hands against the ground again, eventually tiring out and giving Sonic a chance to freeze its arm and deliver another Overblast to its head.

After another round of dodging attacks, Sonic went to deliver one final Overblast to the Goyagma, but it shattered the ice quickly and attempted to stop him. When Sonic leapt onto its head, it tried to smash him beneath its hand, but Sonic leapt up, causing it to facepalm itself instead. Sonic landed on top of its hand and leapt up, spinning in midair and dodging both hands when it tried to clap him between them. He landed on the Goyagma's head and delivered the final shot before leaping to safety. He turned around to see it seemingly explode from within, as explosions could be heard as its hands and arms turned into flames while it screamed. It disappeared completely after one last explosion, the lava level beginning to recede afterwards.

After a minute, Sonic went back down the hole he came out of, making his way back down to where Tails and Knuckles were. Along the way, he ran into several Dessgeegas, but they didn't put up too much of a challenge. Coming upon the spot under the room his friends were in, Sonic found Tails and Knuckles waiting for him, Knuckles having broken the glass with his fists after the lava receded. After talking for a moment, they decided to continue investigating the sector on their own and contact Shadow when they reached the next Navigation Booth.

After a couple of minutes, Team Sonic reached the Navigation Booth, having dealt with Dessgeegas, Mellas, Heat Bulls, Novas, and Cyborg Black Warriors while they were making their way through the rooms. Stepping up onto the booth, Sonic used the systems in the room to send a message to Shadow, saying, "Shadow, do you read me?"

The black hedgehog soon spoke on the other end, "I read you, Sonic. Nice work back in the volcano. The defeat of that Goyagma creature has dealt with most of the abnormalities in this sector, but there are still others that the system is detecting."

Tails asked, "What should we do? Keep searching for the mystery creature? And what do you want us to do with our environmental suits?"

Shadow answered, "Keep the suits for now. As for the creature, it's no longer your current objective. We have no idea where it's hiding out right now, but we'll keep searching for it from here. Meanwhile, I want you three to head to Sector 2. Both Omega's sensors and the BOTTLE SHIP's systems indicate that there is a high probability of survivors hiding there. I'll contact you if we find out anything else." With that, the connection went dead.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles made their way back to the elevator afterwards, dealing with more Nova, Heat Bulls, and an Asborean on the way. Stepping inside the elevator, it began moving up after the door closed, the P.A. Announcer saying as it went, "This elevator is bound for the Main Sector." When the elevator reached its destination, they stepped out and headed to the left, getting inside the Sector 2 elevator. As it went down, the P.A. Announcer spoke up again, "This elevator is bound for Sector 2. A Level 4 warning is now in effect in Sector 2. An irregularity in the climate-control systems of Sector 2 has been confirmed. Please be sure to wear protective equipment and use extreme care when moving around this floor."

Tails muttered, "So that's why Shadow said to keep the suits on. He must've known that Sector 2 is experiencing climate problems."

Sonic turned to him and said, "Wouldn't surprise me, buddy. He's been known to be on top of things like that."

The elevator soon reached the bottom and Team Sonic stepped out of it. Looking around the area, Knuckles said, "All right, let's get moving. If there are survivors here, then we need to find them fast!" Sonic and Tails nodded, then they all headed to their left, towards the hatch leading into the sector. Upon stepping through it, they immediately learned how extensive the climate irregularity was; the floor of the room they entered was covered with ice and cold air was being blown in through the vents near the ceiling. They quickly headed for the Navigation Booth in the next room, receiving part of the map for the sector from the station's systems.

On their way to the next Navigation Booth, they entered several rooms that served as simulated environments, all of them filled with snow and ice. As they passed through these rooms, they encountered Snomers, Himellas, a Fly Pod, Volfons, Skultera, a Fumbleye, Joulions, and a Gigafraug. After getting more map data, they ran into another Fly Pod protected by Himellas and dealt with both of them in order to move forward.

Once the room was clear, Knuckles used his fist to smash the ice blocking the next hatch and they moved into another simulated environment, this one containing puddles of water and cloudy skies. Here, they had their first encounter with a Kyratian, a large salamander-like humanoid creature that seemed to be equipped with some type of armor. After managing to overpower it, they continued onwards, running into more creatures from the sector, including more Volfons, a Gigafraug, Snomers, a Dessgeega, and a group of Kyratians. Eventually reaching another Navigation Booth, they added a little more to their map and dealt with the Snomers and Himellas in the following hallway before continuing to the next room.

Not long after stepping foot into the next room, they came across a surprising sight. Slumped against the wall across from them was a Gigafraug, the creature appearing to have been the victim of predation. Moving closer, they inspected it, finding signs that it indeed had been attacked, though the signs were… a little unusual. Looking at it, Knuckles said, "That's odd. This thing was obviously attacked, but by what?"

Tails said, "It almost looks like something latched onto it before it began preying on it. Like an octopus or a jellyfish…" Thinking about what he just said, he added, "Or a Metroid?"

Sonic looked at him and asked, "A Metroid?" Looking back at the Gigafraug, he said, "I don't know about that, Tails. I mean, it could be, but how could it have been a Metroid? This place is too cold for them. It would've died trying to take this thing down!"

Tails said, "I know that it seems impossible, Sonic, especially after the Metroids on SR388 seemingly died off after the temperatures dropped on the planet, not to mention I've never seen what a Metroid can do, but like Knuckles said, this is really unusual. If a Metroid didn't do this, what did?"

Sonic shrugged, "This station has a lot of different creatures in it. It could've been caused by something we haven't seen before. Maybe it could've been a Metroid, but until we have a better idea-" Sonic stopped talking in mid-sentence and let out a groan as he pressed a hand up against his forehead.

Knuckles asked, "What's wrong, Sonic?"

Sonic groaned for a second before shaking his head and saying, "That was weird. Felt like a headache."

Knuckles grinned, "What, is thinking about all this getting to be too much for your brain?"

Sonic replied, "No way! Actually… it felt like the blood was rushing to my head for a second. And I don't know why."

Tails suggested, "Maybe it's because of the cold? It might have something to do with the Metroid DNA in you."

Sonic shrugged, "Maybe…"

Knuckles said, "Look, we're not gonna get anywhere if we just stand here, asking each other questions that we don't have answers to right now. Come on! We've gotta find those survivors!" Sonic and Tails nodded, all of them moving in the direction of the next hatch. They had questions that needed answers, but right now, finding and protecting the innocents who were holed up in this frozen version of a possibly hot place was more important at the moment.

* * *

Like I promised, I'm back to writing this again.

Omega's comment about there being an anomaly in the door systems is a reference to the game-breaking glitch in "Metroid: Other M." For anyone unfamiliar with the glitch, if you go back to the room where the Ice Beam is authorized after going into the simulated desert room, a door you come across later on becomes locked permanently.

The note about Sonic's suit returning to the color it was at the end of the SRL Station is due to the fact that, without the Varia Suit, it's the same color blue as Metal Sonic.

Music:

Searching Sector 3 - Sunset Park Act 3 (Sonic Triple Trouble)

Volcanic Panic - Warning Siren (Super Smash Brothers Melee)

Battle with Goyagma - Big Boss Confrontation (Super Metroid)

Continuing the Search - SR388 (Metroid: Net Mission)

The Cryosphere - Phendrana Drifts 2 (Metroid Prime)

No Answers - Iceland Extract (Splinter Cell: Double Agent)


	8. The Deleter

_**I could understand what Tails was talking about, but I still had my doubts. Metroids… in a place like the Cryosphere? Metroids can't tolerate cold temperatures; I know that all too well. Besides, we don't even know if they're still around. All the ones we knew were alive were destroyed when the Restricted Lab was jettisoned from the SRL Station and when the station crashed into Planet SR388, along with the X. Still, if they could be bred there, could it also happen here? But what I'm really curious about is that headache. It almost felt like a part of me was calling out to another part…**_

_-Sonic the Hedgehog_

* * *

Following their encounter with a dead Gigafraug's body, Team Sonic continued on their way through Sector 2, searching for survivors. Shortly after leaving the corpse behind, they were attacked by a live Gigafraug in addition to Himellas emerging from a Fly Pod hidden behind a fan. They dealt with the Gigafraug first, knowing that it was the biggest threat at the moment, while doing their best to dodge the icicles being fired by the Himellas. They took a few hits in the process, but managed to defeat their enemies without suffering a lot of damage and moved on soon after Tails released the lock on the hatch they needed to go through.

The room afterwards was full of snow, ice, and stalactites, one stalactite being large enough to block their way. A single punch from Knuckles was enough to break about half of it off and make it fall down onto the ground below. The next room was the Water Tank, the water below the walkway they were standing on being full of Skultera. Unfortunately, Tails and Knuckles' suits kept them from using flying or gliding and, even if they weren't currently unauthorized, the boots of Sonic's suit were covered with a thick layer of ice, preventing him from igniting his Space Jump Boots.

They found a plug near the bottom of the room, which Sonic destroyed with the help of his missiles and bombs, though he was sucked down the drain when the water poured out into the previous room. While Sonic made his way back up to the Water Tank room, Tails and Knuckles were attacked by a pair of Kyratians soon after the water finished draining. The creatures were pretty agile, but Sonic arrived just in time to provide Tails and Knuckles with some cover fire and the Kyratians soon fell.

Two rooms later, the team came across a corridor that was mostly blocked off due to a wall of ice. As they stood before the ice wall, Tails used his headset to examine it before saying, "This is some pretty thick ice. Even with Knuckles, it would take a while to punch through a wall like this."

Knuckles growled, "Well, what other choice do we have? This is the quickest way back to the areas we've already been to, right?"

Sonic spoke, "You know, now that you mention quick, Knuckles, that might be what we need to get past this wall. A high-speed dash would probably be about as powerful as your punches but would still be able to keep going!"

Suddenly, Shadow's voice was heard through Sonic's communicator, "I would have to agree with you, Sonic. Delivering impacts like that should be the most efficient way through that corridor. Since getting out of your suit in that sector is not recommended, I am authorizing the use of the Speed Booster." Sonic nodded and activated the function, feeling some of the ice on his boots melt off as he did. Tails and Knuckles then lined up behind Sonic in speed formation and then they all started running. As they got closer to the ice wall, the jets on Sonic's boots and the back of his suit began to activate, the hedgehog grabbing Tails and Knuckles as they reached full power and he began to hover above the ground! They shot towards the wall faster than a speeding bullet, Sonic smashing through the ice first and leaving Tails and Knuckles no worse for the wear.

The team soon reached the other end of the hallway and kept going through the hatch, crashing through two more ice walls before Sonic disengaged the Speed Booster and slid to a stop. The three of them then headed for the Navigation Booth they had passed up earlier, making their way towards the area where the survivors were presumed to be located. This route took them through the Sector Generator Room, where they had to deal with Snomers and a Fumbleye that tried to keep them from reaching the next hatch, and a room that looked like it was type of laboratory, due to the liquid-filled tubes in the center of the room, where they ran into another Kyratian.

Following their exchange with the Kyratian, along with dealing with another Fly Pod and its Himella protectors in the following hallway, the team entered another Navigation Booth and received more map data for Sector 2. There wasn't much farther to go now. The next room was the Experiment Floor, which was being guarded by a lone Groganch. Having gotten plenty of experience in dealing with them back in Sector 1, Team Sonic was able to easily defeat the large creature. They then moved in the direction of what appeared to be a building built into the side of the room's rocky wall.

When the Groganch collapsed, part of a rocky ledge not far from the base of the building broke off, the ice and snow covered bits landing on the ground. They climbed up onto this ledge and had just started running towards the building when Knuckles noticed something off to the side and stopped. He then turned and called, "Sonic! Tails! Over here!" He walked over to what he'd seen as the hedgehog and fox came to a stop and turned to look back at him.

They soon saw what had caught Knuckles' attention: it was Spike from the Sigma-Alpha 2, and he was lying on the ground. The two of them came over to Knuckles, standing at his sides as they looked down at him. "Man, look at him. He's totally frozen…" Sonic muttered.

"Yeah, but how? Aren't those suits protected against the cold?" Knuckles asked.

Tails bent down and examined Spike for a moment before saying, "From the look of it, I think someone or something did this to him, guys. I don't think he's been here that long; if he'd been frozen by the cold in the sector, he'd still be alive. But he looks like he was instantly frozen by something."

Knuckles groaned, "Ugh… Another man down and we don't know who or what caused it… What's going on around here?"

Unbeknownst to the team, as they were silently mourning their lost ally, someone was watching them from behind one of the windows in the building behind them. Suddenly, Sonic's head snapped up, something clicking inside of his head, and he whirled around, looking directly at the person behind the window. "Hey, you!" he yelled, causing Knuckles and Tails to look at him. The person backed away from the window, startled, and ran away before Sonic could really get a good look at them.

"Sonic, what is it?" Tails asked, not understanding why his friend yelled like that.

Sonic turned to him and said, "There's someone in that building and they were watching us! Whoever it was just ran away!"

Knuckles asked, "What? Who was it?"

Sonic replied, "I don't know. I couldn't see much through the ice, but it looked like another hedgehog!"

Tails asked, "A hedgehog? That's odd. I thought you and Shadow were the only Mobian hedgehogs in this universe."

Sonic said, "Never mind that now, Tails! That might be one of the survivors Shadow sent us here to find! Maybe they can tell us what happened to Spike!" Tails and Knuckles nodded and they all hurried over to the nearby ledge, going inside the building. They ran through the hallway, which led them to the main part of the building, the Materials Storehouse. It seemed to be much warmer inside, so Tails and Knuckles took off the helmets of their suits, Sonic doing the same as they walked down the nearby set of stairs.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Sonic looked to the right to see the person he saw earlier peeking out at them from behind a crate. He only managed to see the person was wearing gray pants and a pair of red shoes with white straps on top before they ducked back behind the crate, the sound of retreating footsteps following. Sonic ran towards where the person had been, Tails and Knuckles following. Peeking around the crate, they saw the person also had on white gloves and a white jacket. As they began to walk amongst the stored materials, closing in on the person, they heard the person speak, and it sounded like a male. "Stay away from me! I know what you're here for!" he shouted in a voice that was somewhat deep, sounding like a mix of Sonic's voice and Shadow's voice.

As they continued walking after the person, Sonic spoke, "Hold on. You've got it all wrong. We're here to help you!"

The person called back, "You're lying! I know the United Federation is trying to silence everyone who knows about our work here!" As Team Sonic moved closer, the person ducked behind another crate before adding, "How can I trust you when your troops are willing to kill each other?"

Tails asked, "What are you talking about?"

The person called back, "You saw him, didn't you? The human frozen on the ground? He was shot by someone wearing the same Power Suit he was! That person was the one who froze him to death!" The person went silent for a moment before adding, "Just stay away from me!" Silence ruled for a moment, being broken by the sound of the person's feet as he started running. Team Sonic started running too, rounding one last corner to finally catch a good glimpse of the person, who gasped when he saw them.

Like Sonic had said, the person was a hedgehog, similar to Sonic and Shadow. However, he had navy blue fur covering most of his body (at the least the parts they could see due to his clothing) except for the top of his quills; those happened to be orange, just like his eyes. The quills on the back of his head were pointed back and to the sides, just like Shadow's, and they could see a tuft of white fur sticking out of the top of his red shirt.

The hedgehog soon turned around and started running again, at which point Team Sonic could see that he had something poking out from his back, like he had a pair of quills down there. They could also see his navy blue tail sticking out from underneath his jacket. He ran over to a computer console next to a locked hatch and started typing something into it until Knuckles yelled, 'Hey, listen to us!"

The hedgehog stopped what he was doing and looked at the team over his shoulder, his eyes filled with uncertainty and worry. Sonic said, "We didn't pick up the distress call and come here to hurt anybody!"

Tails nodded, "We're here to rescue you…" The hedgehog still looked nervous, panting a bit as the two sides stared at each other. Before anyone could move or say anything else, the floor began to shake and something appeared over a stack of crates across from them. It was some kind of large, yellow machine, and it shined a light on all four of them, blinding them for a moment.

Sonic quickly put his helmet back on and pointed his blaster up at the machine while Tails and Knuckles jumped out of their suits so they could be at full battle capacity. Sonic called to the other hedgehog, "Quick! Get behind us!" The hedgehog dashed towards the team as the machine sent a large crate flying in his direction, getting out of the way just in time and hiding behind Sonic. As the hedgehog laid a hand on his shoulder, Sonic felt that uneasy sensation he felt earlier in the back of his head.

While Sonic held a hand to his head and Knuckles looked over at him in confusion, Tails stayed focused on the machine struggling to get out from behind the wall of crates. "Wait…" he murmured as the arms on the machine moved, allowing him to see the cockpit better. "That's a United Federation Power Suit!" Tails exclaimed.

Sonic groaned for a moment while Knuckles looked over at Tails, the hedgehog soon turning his head to face the hedgehog behind him and saying, "Go find a place to hide! This is going to get ugly!" The hedgehog nodded and ran to his right, behind Tails and Knuckles and disappearing amongst the crates. Turning back to face the machine, Sonic disengaged his suit. The machine sent an even larger crate flying towards the team, but Sonic and Knuckles leapt towards it, Sonic curling up in a Homing Attack while Knuckles got his fists ready. They hit the crate at the same time and managed to knock it away from where it was originally going to land. Tails came over to them as they landed, the team ready to fight what Tails' headset identified as an RB176 Ferrocrusher.

The Ferrocrusher charged at them, attempting to run them over. Sonic dove to the left while Knuckles dove to the right; Tails, meanwhile, spun his namesakes around, flying up out of its way. It crashed into a wall of crates, but quickly turned itself around and went after Sonic, the hedgehog revving up and dashing towards a wall, running up the side of it while the Ferrocrusher slammed into it and stopped moving for a moment. While it was stunned, Tails flew up behind it and fired several Energy Balls at it, aiming for the arms and treads. It soon moved back away from the wall, however, and swirled around, firing a laser up at Tails. The fox surely would have been hit had he not been wearing his Jet Anklets, which made him fast enough to fly out of the way.

The Ferrocrusher moved away from the wall and prepared to charge again, the driver unaware that Knuckles was coming up along the side. The echidna pulled out one of his Shovel Claws and leapt towards the machine's left arm, slashing the claw at the arm's base. The claw dug past the plating on the outside and cut through some of the circuitry underneath, causing the arm to start dangling. Sonic, who had come back down to the floor at this point, saw this and called, "Hey Knuckles! Do that again!" Knuckles was happy to comply and, after getting out of the way of a charge, leapt towards the arm again and raked the Shovel Claw across it. It cut through the rest of the circuitry keeping the arm attached, causing it to fall to the floor while it and the part of the machine it was attached to shot sparks.

Tails called, "Way to go, Knuckles! Now if we can take out that other arm, maybe we can stop that thing!"

Sonic called back, "I've got it covered, buddy!" He then towards the Ferrocrusher and dashed towards the front of it, then did a feint and dashed to the side. The Ferrocrusher took the bait and turned, going after him while it held its remaining arm back. Sonic soon slid to a stop in front of a stack of crates and turned around to face it, the machine swinging its arm as soon as it was in range. Sonic leapt over the swinging arm and, as soon as he landed, turned around to face it and went into a Spin Dash, bouncing up towards the arm and digging into it with his quills. Several seconds later, the severed arm crashed to the floor, just like the first one.

The Ferrocrusher didn't move for a moment afterwards, but then the top of the machine flipped around so it was facing forward and two pairs of buzz saws were activated, moving into position in front of the machine. It then began to move all over the place, trying to either run Team Sonic over or slice off their knees. It also fired its laser in a circle around it, trying to hit them. Sonic eventually lost his patience for the machine and engaged his suit, charging up Ice Beam shots and firing them at the treads in the back, trying to freeze it in place. Eventually, one of the treads froze to the ground, the Ferrocrusher letting out a whine as it struggled to break free of the layer of ice.

While it was doing so, a small hatch opened on top of it and something popped out from the inside. Tails saw it and spun his twin tails around, dashing towards the machine. Once he reached it, he placed a hand on the bottom of the Ferrocrusher and used it to pull himself off the ground. His namesakes were still spinning, propelling him into the air and getting him above the machine. At that point, he stopped spinning them and landed on top of the machine. He then charged up an Energy Ball and fired an Overblast at the device that had appeared. The electricity from the shot seemed to drain the machine, as it slumped down to the floor as if deactivated.

Before Tails could jump down, however, it suddenly started up again and began to go haywire! It started crashing into walls and crates while the poor fox struggled to hold on. "Tails, come on! Fly off of that thing!" Sonic called. Tails held on for a moment longer before he started spinning his tails around, managing to get off the Ferrocrusher before it crashed into another wall, finally exploding. Sonic and Knuckles ran over to him, Sonic asking, "Tails, are you all right, buddy?"

Tails panted, "Yeah… I think so, Sonic…"

Knuckles sighed, "That's good news." He then turned to face the Ferrocrusher and said, "Now let's see who was behind that attack." Sonic and Tails nodded, all of them moving towards the Ferrocrusher, the cockpit of which was smashed up against the wall.

When they reached the other side and looked up at it, however, they found it was empty! Sonic growled, "Darn! Whoever it was must've escaped while the machine was going haywire!"

Knuckles glanced around and said, "Yeah. Hopefully that hedgehog managed to get away from here."

Tails asked, "Do you think he was telling the truth? About the United Federation coming to the BOTTLE SHIP to keep anyone who knew about this bioweapon project from leaking the information?"

Knuckles crossed his arms and said, "Well, it's no wonder he'd think that. Who else wears a Power Suit that looks like that?"

Sonic said, "Considering what we went through and his implication that Spike was killed by another soldier, I'd have to agree with him."

Suddenly, Sonic's communicator beeped and he answered it. Shadow spoke from the other end, "Sonic, the cries from that creature we saw earlier is driving the other creatures into a frenzy; they're becoming more aggressive. It's still here somewhere, in Sector 3. The elevator up ahead will help you and your team get back to the Main Sector. Once you're back in Sector 3, head for the Geothermal Power Plant. I've already contacted James and Honch; we're meeting up there. We've got to take that creature down. If you happen to come across it on the way, hit it with your Plasma Beam."

Sonic nodded, "All right, Shadow. We're on our way back there now." With that, the connection went dead. Tails and Knuckles took a moment to retrieve their suits, which, miraculously, had not been crushed or ripped apart by the Ferrocrusher during the whole skirmish. They then headed up to a nearby ledge, where they put them back on before following Sonic through the nearby hatch, which led them to an elevator that had a slight layer of ice on it, indicating that temperatures had dropped again. They stepped onto the platform, which started moving down as soon as they were all on.

As they went down, Sonic noticed Tails seemed to be mulling over something and asked, "Something wrong, Tails?"

Tails turned to him and said, "I was just thinking… With all these creatures, crafted into killers and running free, this BOTTLE SHIP is like one big nightmare planet… and then here came Shadow and the others. At this rate, the plan the Federation is trying so hard to keep secret is going to end up being revealed."

Sonic asked, "What are you getting at?"

Tails replied, "I'm thinking that's why they sent in an assassin. Someone who could wipe out any survivors as well as anyone else who happens to find out anything about the secret project."

Knuckles said, "Well, as much as I can't stand Shadow or anyone else on Team Dark, I doubt that any of them are behind it. Besides, none of them would be able to fit in a suit like that so well."

Tails held a hand to his chin as he said, "Then that leaves only James and Honch. Could one of them really be a traitor? What could've persuaded them to turn on Spike and possibly Rico so easily?"

Sonic spoke, "Well, until we can figure it out, we need a name to refer to this mystery traitor that we have to track down. Why don't we call him 'the Deleter?' After all, he seems to be trying to erase any survivors and anyone else who knows about the project."

Tails said, "Uh, sure Sonic. We'll go with that, I guess…" The rest of the elevator ride was uneventful after that, everyone being preoccupied with their thoughts. Sonic, in particular, was thinking a lot about something. "_That hedgehog… who was he? What was that weird feeling I had when he touched me? Did he send the distress signal? He couldn't be this Madeline Bergman, could he?_" Sonic shook his head a moment and thought, "_Either way, we have to keep him safe from the Deleter. He's going to be targeted again, and so will we. We're all going to be a threat to the Deleter's plans._"

**Meanwhile…**

Someone dressed in a Federation Power Suit was walking along a platform stationed above a lake of lava somewhere in Sector 3. It appeared to have been a viewing platform at some point, due to the fact that there was broken glass lining the edge of it. As it stood near the edge of the platform, the figure opened the visor, revealing that it was Honch. He wiped his forehead with his arm for a moment before closing his visor and sighing, "Man… Even with this suit on, it feels like I'm in an oven."

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and he whirled around, pulling his rifle off of his back and pointing it towards the shadows behind him, saying, "Who goes there?" The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing that it was clad in the same Power Suit. Honch lowered his gun and sighed, "Oh, it was you. I was inspecting this area on my way to the Geothermal Power Plant. Why are you here?"

The soldier did not reply, instead reaching into the holster on the side of its right leg and pulling out the Freeze Gun there. "What the-?" Honch managed to exclaim before the soldier fired at him, his rifle falling from his hands as he collapsed face first onto the ground. The soldier holstered its Freeze Gun and approached Honch. It then gave his frozen body a hard kick, sending him over the edge and down into the lava. The soldier watched until Honch hit the lava before turning and walking away, a faded 'SA2' on the helmet being the only thing unique about the soldier's Power Suit…

* * *

Um... I don't really have anything to say about this one. If you want to see a concept I made of the new hedgehog character that I posted on Deviantart, remove the spaces in the following link: http:/ greensonic21. deviantart. com/art/Concept-205854223


	9. The Hard Road

_**I knew the question Sonic was trying to avoid. And I knew the answer Shadow would've given him. If something like the ARK incident happened again, Shadow would hold on to that glimmer of hope and try to redeem himself. Both for Maria and the people he cared about now.**_

_-Rouge the Bat_

* * *

"Well, that was a wonderful waste of time!" Knuckles growled as he, Sonic, and Tails passed through a hatch into a small passage with snow and ice that emptied out into a metal room that had a staircase to the north and a couple cargo boxes to the south. This was the room that the elevator located in the back of the Materials Storehouse had taken them to.

The room they had just exited had more ice and snow, as well as a slope with a hatch at the top. That hatch led them to a small room that had protective glass at the opposite end. Through the glass, they could see a button that could be energized with a shot, but the reinforced glass kept Tails and Sonic from firing at it, and it was designed to resist something with Knuckles' strength. With no other options available at the moment, they decided to go back and see if they could find some other way out of Sector 2.

"Well, it's not so bad, Knuckles. We can still try to reach that room we saw from up there. Even if we have to fly, it might be a way for us to get out of here since we can't go back through the Materials Storehouse due to the damage that the Ferrocrusher caused," Tails said.

Sonic was about to say something when they reached the metal part of the room and three glass barriers suddenly slid down, boxing the team in! Shortly afterwards, three Cyborg Black Warriors dropped down from the ceiling behind the barriers, two near the north stairs and one behind them. But something looked a little different about them. The cyborgs they had seen earlier were silver, making them look like regular robots. These were black and red, so they looked like actual Black Warriors.

They didn't have a lot of time to really examine them since all three of them pulled out what appeared to be Ring Shot guns, pointing them at the trio. But they only appeared to be similar to the Black Arms pistol; when they pulled the trigger, a pink ring formed around the end of the gun, energy gathering in the center of the ring. A few seconds later, enough energy was gathered and a black and red beam was fired through the glass, two of the Black Arms firing at the team while the third was still charging.

The team spent several moments dodging the shots before Shadow's voice buzzed in Sonic's ear, "Sonic! You'll need a permeating shot to get through the glass! I'm authorizing you to unlock your Wave Beam!" After dodging another shot, Sonic added the Wave Beam effect to his Ice Beam, allowing him to shoot three purple undulating shots at once. While he was doing that, Tails and Knuckles decided it was finally time to ditch their environmental suits. Now the team was ready to deal with their surprise attackers.

Sonic ran over to the glass barrier on the left and pointed his beam towards it, opening fire on the cyborg Black Warrior behind it while Tails and Knuckles went after the other two. With a Shovel Claw, Knuckles was able to break through the glass without hurting himself in the process. He then leapt towards the nearest cyborg while Tails took to the air and began firing Energy Balls at the other one. Despite the Black Arms taking Team Sonic by surprise, they were no match for their teamwork and were soon defeated.

The glass barriers retracted afterwards, sliding back down into the floor now that the threat had been taken care of. Tails looked towards the stairs and said, "Let's get going before any more of their friends show up."

Sonic called to him, "Hang on, buddy! I'm gonna go back to that room we were just in! The Wave Beam should be able to hit that switch on the other side of the glass!" Without waiting for an answer, Sonic headed back into the frozen room, leaving Tails and Knuckles alone for the moment.

Sonic used the Speed Booster to Shinespark up to a Morph Ball cannon, which allowed him to reach the hatch to the room by going across the covering on the ceiling of the room he was in. When he reached the room, it was just as he thought: the Wave Beam could penetrate the glass, energizing the button on the opposite wall. Moments afterward, a cargo elevator came down the track in the room below, coming to a stop at the end.

Sonic left the room after seeing this, sliding down the slope so he could meet up with Knuckles and Tails. He had just started sliding when the snow blowers at the top of the slope suddenly malfunctioned, causing a miniature avalanche to form! Sonic quickly switched to Morph Ball mode, the hedgehog rolling down the slope at a faster speed than when he had been sliding.

Dodging the debris in his path, Sonic soon made it to the edge of the slope and uncurled as he fell, landing on his feet. With the avalanche still coming, Sonic broke out into a run, his Speed Booster beginning to activate as the cold wall behind him began to get closer. As he made it to the turn, Sonic slid to a stop and crouched, then blasted off to his left in another Shinespark. He flew through the hatch as the avalanche rounded the corner, Sonic sliding across the ground for a few seconds and coming to a stop in front of a surprised Tails and Knuckles. A loud crashing sound was heard behind the hatch a moment later, signifying that the avalanche had reached the end of its path.

After a quick explanation, the team headed north, the hatch leading to a room that mainly consisted of a long metal slope. Water was running through channels on both sides of the slope, possibly for the sector's refrigeration machinery? The slope had platforms on it, but only a few were active; the rest were either stuck, inactive, or destroyed. What was up was enough for them, though, and they quickly made their way to the top while avoiding Joulions on the way up. They also encountered a pair of Kyratians at the top, which managed to cause a little trouble for the team, due to having to fight in such close quarters, but they dealt with them and then went inside the nearby Navigation Booth to recover from the damage.

After resting for a minute, they walked into the next room, which was the Materials Transfer Lift that they had seen from above earlier. The terminal for the lift had a simple input: like with any regular elevator, all it took was the push of a button to get it to move. They all stood in the center of the moving platform, Sonic and Knuckles tapping their feet while Tails glanced around a little worriedly. Except for the sound of the lift, it was too quiet. They couldn't be this lucky… could they?

No they couldn't. It took about a minute, but trouble managed to find them. Three of the new Cyborg Black Warriors suddenly dropped down onto the lift, having been hiding on the ceiling just seconds ago. Shortly after landing, they leapt towards the trio, trying to pile on top of them. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles quickly moved out of the way, each moving to a different corner, Sonic standing across from the terminal while Tails and Knuckles took the other two corners. While the Black Warriors were trying to get off of each other, Sonic took the opportunity to deactivate his suit.

After they got untangled, each of the Black Warriors went after a different target. The one that went after Knuckles was easily defeated when the echidna slammed one of his Shovel Claws into its chest, impaling the cyborg on it. Then, with what was basically a flick of the wrist, he sent it into the wall across from him, causing it to smash into pieces. Sonic, meanwhile, intercepted his Warrior in midair with a kick, knocking it down onto its back. He then landed on it and began to spin on its chest, cutting through its circuitry with his quills. As for Tails, he was putting his Rhythm Badge to good use, striking his Warrior with his namesakes over and over before grabbing it between them and throwing it, sending it flying down the elevator shaft.

Shortly afterwards, four more Cyborg Black Warriors dropped down onto the lift, apparently hoping to catch the team unaware. Unfortunately for them, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were still battle pumped and easily avoided their initial attacks, regrouping in the center of the lift. Before the Black Warriors had a chance to attack again, Team Sonic performed the Sonic Overdrive, Knuckles grabbing onto Tails' legs while he did the same with Sonic. The echidna then spun around before releasing Tails, who kicked Sonic to get him going. Once he was airborne, the blue bomber attacked the Black Warriors multiple times, destroying them before landing on his feet.

The three of them looked around afterward, looking for any more threats that might pop up. Sonic soon spotted something coming at them from up the shaft and alerted Tails and Knuckles to it. It soon got close enough for them to get a good look at it. Tails' scanner identified it as a Rhedogian, a large blue beast that resembled an extinct _Anomalocaris_ that appeared to be capable of gliding like Knuckles, had extendable arms, and a large set of mandibles hanging down over its face. It stopped in midair before reaching the lift and suddenly fired missiles out of its mouth down at the team!

After the trio avoided the missile storm, the Rhedogian landed on the lift, planting its 'hands' against the ground when it touched down. Not long after they started fighting it, the lift reached the end of the line, which made the battlefield a little bigger. The long arms of the Rhedogian forced the team to be on the defensive most of the time; Sonic was somewhat reminded of his time as a Werehog while they were fighting it. They managed to cause a bit of damage to it, Knuckles even sending one of its horns flying down the elevator shaft. It retreated soon after that, disappearing down the shaft after its horn.

Deciding that there was no reason to go back down after it, Team Sonic moved on, dealing with Snomers in the following hallway before reaching a room that seemed to be a dead-end. Fortunately, they managed to locate a vent in one corner of the room, which, after crawling through it, led them back to the elevator out of Sector 2. The team quickly boarded the elevator and soon found themselves back in the Main Sector. Before boarding the elevator to Sector 3, Sonic contacted Shadow, "Hey Shadow, we made it out of the Cryosphere. We'll be back in the Pyrosphere soon."

The black hedgehog responded, "Right. I'll unlock the hatch to the left of the elevator for you. There's a Navigation Booth a few rooms past it. Go there and wait for us."

Sonic nodded, "Okay. Anything changed since we left?"

Shadow answered, "There's been some damage near us and there's a new warning in effect for the area, but otherwise, nothing." With that, the line went dead, so Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles walked through nearby door, going inside the elevator. The door then slid shut and the elevator started moving.

While they were waiting, the P.A. Announcer spoke, "This elevator is bound for Sector 3. A Level 4 warning is now in effect in Sector 3. An irregularity has been confirmed in the Geothermal Power Plant and the experimental simulated desert area. All staff members are asked to please evacuate immediately." No one really had anything to say about that.

The elevator soon arrived at its destination and the team stepped off. Looking to the left, they saw the lights on the hatch there change from a yellow-orange to green, indicating that it was now open. As per their orders, they headed through the hatch, going through a short hallway filled with Sovas and a pair of Heat Bulls. They quickly made their way through while watching where they stepped.

They turned to the left when they stepped into the following room. They saw a raised area across from them with a small space in the middle of it for wall jumping. Sonic immediately ran over to it and jumped between the two walls, soon reaching the top. Tails and Knuckles walked over, about to simply fly and glide up when the floor suddenly started to shake.

Suddenly, the floor directly in front of the raised area exploded, revealing lava underneath and throwing Tails and Knuckles backwards! Thankfully, they didn't fall in, but, as he looked down, Sonic noticed something was in the lava. It soon emerged, revealing itself to be a Rhedogian, the same one that attacked them on the Materials Transfer Lift, to be exact, though it had somehow restored its lost horn. Ignoring Tails and Knuckles for the moment, the Rhedogian set its sights on Sonic and flew between him and the hatch leading to the next room, a group of Sovas soon emerging from the lava to join in too.

Sonic began spinning at his opponent while Tails and Knuckles recovered from the unexpected sneak attack. Team Dark came running into the room as they were standing up, everyone seeing Sonic battling with the Rhedogian and its Sova buddies. After dodging a laser attack from the Rhedogian, Sonic curled up, beginning to charge up a Light Speed Attack. But even with the Crystal Ring, the attack didn't charge fast enough and the Rhedogian grabbed him with its hands, dangling the blue hedgehog over the lava while he was still in ball form.

Tails was about to fly up and help Sonic, but Shadow beat him to the punch, using his air shoes to leap up to the platform and deliver a Homing Attack to the Rhedogian, causing it to throw Sonic behind it and, unexpectedly, causing him to unleash his Light Speed Attack, which took out all of the Sovas. Afterwards, the Rhedogian focused on Sonic and Shadow, trying to hit them with its arms and lasers. It was so distracted that it didn't see or hear Omega leap up onto the raised area with a little help from Knuckles. Once he landed, he immediately blasted it with both of his flamethrowers, catching it by surprise and melting off both of its horns at their bases.

It turned around to face him, but once again left itself wide open, this time for a pincher attack by Sonic and Shadow, the two hedgehogs slamming into it from the sides. The battling continued for a little while longer until the Rhedogian suddenly leapt up and glided away from the two hedgehogs and the walking arsenal. Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles tried to stop it, but it quickly flew down into the lava, disappearing beneath the molten rock.

While everyone caught their breaths, Sonic turned to Shadow and said, "Thanks, Shadow. That could've been ugly." Shadow simply shrugged at that and turned away, seeing Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles come up to their level.

After landing, Knuckles asked Shadow, "So what about the other two? Where are those military soldiers?"

Shadow shrugged, "I don't know. We haven't heard a word from Honch or James yet. They know to meet up at the Navigation Booth up ahead, though."

Tails asked, "So what's the plan now?"

Rouge spoke up, "To track down that monster and get to the Geothermal Power Plant. That's where the magma-eruption port is."

Knuckles looked at her and asked, "What's that supposed to do?"

Rouge smirked, "It'll get the power in this sector going again, Red. Gotta do something so you'll be able to see my pretty face." Knuckles just gave a snort at that remark.

Tails crossed his arms and said, "Seems a little overkill to send us all to one location just to get the power back on." He then shrugged, "But I guess you have your reasons, Shadow."

Shadow said nothing, crossing his arms and looking in the direction of the hatch leading to the Navigation Booth. Sonic turned to look at him and asked, "So, Shadow, how do you feel about being on a station like this?" Shadow turned to look at him, uncrossing his arms as he did. He knew what Sonic was referring to.

_**Flashback, 50 years ago…**_

_Run. Escape. Protect Maria. Those were the only things going through Shadow's head as he ran through the hallways of the ARK, clutching Maria's hand all the while. She wanted him to help the wounded researchers as they made their escape. He wanted to make sure she was safe before anything else. His mind was still locked on that fierce determination; at the moment, he couldn't recall whether he had helped the researchers, taken down the invading soldiers, or simply ran with Maria._

_As they were running through a hall, they ducked into a room, hoping to temporarily lose the soldiers pursuing them. Looking around, they realized that they were in the abandoned research lab. Maria looked back at the door fearfully, hearing the sound of the soldiers' footsteps on the other side. Looking down at Shadow, who seemed to be trying to figure out what to do next, she knew what she had to do._

_She pulled Shadow to the center of the room before letting go of him, not looking at his questioning face or answering him when he questioned her. She went over to a computer console and typed something in; seconds later, a glass tube slid down from the ceiling, sealing Shadow inside._

_Suddenly, the door to the lab opened and three soldiers appeared in the entryway. One of them raised a pistol, pointing it at Shadow. The black hedgehog looked back at the human, no fear in his eyes at all._

_Suddenly, something got between him and the human._

_A gunshot rang out._

_Shadow watched in horror as Maria fell down backwards right in front of him in slow motion. "Maria!" he exclaimed, pressing his hands up against the glass tube._

_Maria turned over so she was on her front, looking up at Shadow for what she knew was going to be the last time. Despite her current state, her eyes looked no different to Shadow, which surprised him. "Please, Shadow… I need your help! Everyone's fate depends on… YOU!" she begged. Immediately after saying that, she slumped down against the floor._

"_Maria!" Shadow yelled. But she never heard him, and that was the last he saw of her. At that moment, the tube he was in was jettisoned out of the ARK, heading for Earth…_

_**End flashback**_

Sonic noticed the look on Shadow's face and immediately felt guilty for mentioning that particular event. "Look, forget about it, Shadow. Sorry for bringing it up at all," the blue hedgehog said. He knew that Shadow would take no comfort in the fact that, if it weren't for Maria, Shadow might not have survived the incident and carried out Professor Gerald's wish of defeating the Black Arms. Silence ruled the room for several minutes before Sonic wondered, "If something like that happened again… What if…?"

Shadow broke some of the tension by saying, "We'd better get going. We have to get through the experimental simulated desert area to reach the Geothermal Power Plant."

Tails asked, "Aren't we gonna wait for Honch and James to show up?"

Shadow answered, "They're taking too long. The initial plan was to move as a unit, but if those two are the only ones left, then there's not much of a unit. It'll be easier if we make our way to the power plant separately."

Sonic spoke, "Tails, Knuckles, why don't you guys go on ahead with Shadow? I wanna see if there's any sign of either of them around this area."

Tails replied, "No way, Sonic! I can help you look!"

Knuckles nodded, "And I'm not staying with that bat any longer than I need to. I'd rather hang around with you than her."

Rouge put on a mock hurt face as she said, "That hurts, Knuckie."

Sonic turned to Shadow and asked, "That okay with you, Shadow?"

The black hedgehog nodded, "Fine. Just don't be late." Sonic nodded and headed back in the direction of the elevator, followed by Tails and Knuckles.

Team Dark left the room shortly afterwards, soon entering the Blast Furnace Observation. The door leading to the chamber itself was locked, but Rouge managed to find the terminal that controlled the lock with her 'skills' and release it. Going down to the door, they all took a look inside. They could see a pair of rock formations in the lava and another door leading out on the opposite side. Rouge and Omega went first, both of them flying up to the rock formation on the right.

Shadow was about to follow after them when something suddenly emerged from the lava in front of the door, its jaws pointing at Shadow! It was the Vorash that attacked Team Dark and Team Sonic earlier during the latter's first visit to the sector. It tried to shove its jaws into the small space, trying to eat Shadow, but there wasn't enough room. While it was distracted, Rouge threw several bombs at it, causing it to turn to face her. While it was distracted, Shadow Spin Dashed into it, knocking it back beneath the lava.

The lava level began to rise afterward, so Shadow spun towards the rock formation, landing next to Rouge and Omega as the door automatically shut itself. The Vorash then emerged from the lava again, leaping over the rock formation Team Dark was on and raining lava bombs on them. After they dodged the projectiles, Shadow said, "I've had enough of this thing. Omega! Level 3 weapons are authorized!" Omega gleefully got his missiles launchers ready at that command.

Rouge turned to Shadow and asked, "How do you want to go about taking this thing down?"

Shadow replied, "We get it to land on the rock first. Then we show it the ultimate power!"

The Vorash continued leaping out of the lava, trying to attack Team Dark with various attacks while they looked for an opening. Eventually, they got one; the Vorash spun in midair as it leapt out of the lava, exposing its soft underside. Omega immediately fired a whole salvo of missiles at it, causing the Vorash to land on its side on the other rock formation. While it struggled to get back into the lava, Team Dark leapt over to it and began pounding it relentlessly with blows and missiles.

The Vorash eventually managed to leap over the heads of the team, falling towards the lava. Unfortunately, it left its soft underside exposed again, so Shadow used a Homing Attack, going right through the creature and out the other side, landing on the other rock formation. After it landed in the lava, it resurfaced once and gave a loud screech before slowly sinking back beneath the lava and not coming back up.

The lava level receded afterwards, exposing the door that the team had seen earlier. Satisfied, Team Dark left; the Vorash had learned what happened to anyone who tried to turn the Ultimate Life Form into a meal. They could only hope things were all right on Team Sonic's end too.

* * *

Done. It might be a little late, but at least I got it done on the same week as Sonic's birthday.

Originally, Shadow's flashback was based off of the cutscene that plays before the "Heavy Dog" boss battle and what follows said boss in "Shadow the Hedgehog". However, I realized that it didn't end with Shadow getting off the ARK, so I changed it to be similar to the cutscene that plays at the beginning of "Final Haunt".

I know the Vorash battle scene was short, but I figured that Shadow wouldn't want to hold back against something that tried to eat him earlier.

I'm thinking of skipping straight ahead to the scene at the Geothermal Power Plant since, except for another Rhedogian battle, there's nothing really noteworthy that happens between then and now. What do you guys think?


	10. Doom

Shadow, Rouge, and Omega stepped out of the Navigation Booth near the Geothermal Power Plant, each of them relieved that they finally made it. Following their battle with the Vorash, Tails contacted Shadow to tell him that the creature they've been tracking seemed to be heading for the power plant and that they'd make their way there to stop it. Following the call, Team Dark made their way through the Environmental Test Floor and the Desert Refinery, making their way up a winding walkway after exiting the refinery. In the room at the end, they ran into the Rhedogian from earlier, but once again, it managed to escape in the middle of the battle.

After that encounter, the team eventually returned to the sector's more familiar areas, and not long after, they reached the Navigation Booth they just stepped out of. As they headed for the next hatch, walking along the line in the middle of the room between four sets of glass with lava flowing on the other side of them, Rouge suddenly came to a stop. "Ugh, what is that stink?" she asked.

Shadow and Omega stopped and turned to look back at her, Shadow asking, "What are you talking about?"

Rouge looked at him and asked, "What, it's too faint for you to smell? Looks like I have the better nose, then."

Shadow said, "Don't start with me. Especially since I know you're hiding something on you but am being nice enough not to shake you down for it."

Rouge sighed, "How many times are you going to bring this up? You know, when you've got something you don't want to talk about, I happen to be nice enough not to keep bringing it up." When Shadow offered no response, she said, "I'll be right back. I just want to know what it is." She then flew up to a nearby ledge on the side of the room. A moment later, she said, "So this is what's making that smell." Shadow and Omega heard her kick something and, a second later, it fell down to their level.

Shadow looked at it and said, "That's the creature we were tracking."

Rouge flew back down and said, "Sure is. Except it looks like it's dead now. Just look here." She gestured to the creature's back, where it seemed as though something had come out through the back of its spine, part of the skin split in opposite directions.

Shadow murmured, "Did Team Sonic get to it before we did?"

Rouge heard him and said, "I doubt it. Knuckles can be a hothead, but I doubt he would do this. If they were responsible for this, I would be surprised."

Omega scanned it for a moment before saying, "SCANS INDICATE THAT THIS BODY MAY HAVE BEEN SIMILAR TO A CACOON. THE CREATURE MAY HAVE EVOLVED INTO A DIFFERENT FORM."

Shadow looked at him a moment before saying, "Come on. Let's go find Sonic's team and see if they know anything." He then headed for the hatch, Rouge and Omega following a moment later.

They reached the power plant a minute later and then stepped through the hatch at the top of a set of stairs into the room where the Magma Eruption Port was located. Most of the room was dark due to the port being closed, preventing the lava from flowing inside. Shadow walked ahead of Rouge and Omega, looking around as he crossed over the walkway and onto the circular platform, coming to a stop a short distance from the walkway.

Suddenly, Shadow heard the sound of footsteps to his right and turned his head to look. It was Sonic, clad in his power suit and pointing his blaster in the black hedgehog's direction, a charged green shot at the end of it. Shadow instantly knew that he had activated his Plasma Beam and turned to face him as Rouge and Omega stepped onto the platform, both of them now able to see what Shadow was looking at. Shadow tensed up, waiting for Sonic to make the first move…

All of a sudden, the blue hedgehog shouted, "Shadow! Get out of the way!" He then moved his blaster so it pointed just above Shadow's left shoulder and fired the shot. Shadow dashed to the side as the shot flew past where he'd been standing, soon exploding against the wall. A deep growl that soon followed told Team Dark that Sonic and his friends weren't the only ones in the room with them.

Sonic growled and ducked back behind the pillar he had stepped out from behind, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega following him. They found Tails and Knuckles behind it as well, both of them looking around the room. "What's going on here?!" Shadow demanded.

Tails said, "We just got here a few minutes ago. We were trying to figure out how to get the power back on when all of a sudden, we started getting attacked!"

Rouge looked in front of her at the sound of the creature's growl, its shadow being visible for a moment before it vanished. "What is this thing?!" she asked.

Sonic glanced at her over his shoulder and said, "No idea! We've been trying to figure that out, but even with my night vision and Tails' headset, we can't get a good lock on it! It keeps disappearing somehow!"

Omega spoke, "INSUFFICIENT LIGHTING FOR IDENTIFYING TARGET. MOVING TO ANOTHER ROOM IS SUGGESTED."

Knuckles growled, "Well, that's a fine and dandy idea, screw head! We would've left earlier if this thing didn't keep messing us up! You guys just came in, where's the exit at?!"

Rouge sighed, "You can be so hopeless, Knuckles. The hatch is over there." As she started pointing in the direction of the hatch, a blade of fire suddenly slashed through the walkway leading to it, destroying it. Almost immediately afterwards, something crashed into the hatch itself, destroying it as well. "…Or not." Rouge quickly muttered.

Sonic said, "Then we're stuck in here with this thing, this teleporting thing."

Tails said, "We'd have an easier time fighting this thing if we could get the power back on." He turned to Shadow and asked, "Shadow, what do we have to do to make the power plant start up?"

The black hedgehog thought for a moment before saying, "We've got to get the magma flowing. To do that, we need to open the eruption port."

Sonic, Tails, Rouge, and Shadow looked around the room, searching for the port while the creature growled at them. Finally, Sonic pointed and said, "It's over there!"

Shadow held up a hand as he said, "Activate your Super Missiles, Sonic! We'll hit it at the same time!" Sonic nodded and pressed a few buttons on his wrist, activating the Super Missile functionality. He and Shadow then leapt out from behind the pillar, Sonic charging up his missiles while Shadow prepared to use Chaos Spear. They both fired at roughly the same time, the missile and spears exploding against the port at the same time.

Almost immediately afterwards, lava began pouring through the now open port, kind of like a waterfall. The molten Earth blood raised the curtain of darkness, making it much easier for everyone to see. Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, and Omega came out from behind the pillar, each of them searching for the enemy.

While Sonic was checking behind him, Shadow noticed a shadow appear in the eruption port's opening and tensed up. He could only make out a few details based on its shadow: some type of clothing that dangled down past where its' legs should have been, some kind of accessories that dangled down from its shoulders, a pair of arms that each ended with three-fingered hands, two horns sticking out of the side of its head, and three glowing red eyes…

Shadow's eyes widened, a trace of shock and fear within them as the creature came out of the shadows. There were some very noticeable differences, but there was no denying the identity of the creature floating towards the platform. "Black… Doom?!" he gasped.

Sonic heard his gasp and turned around to face him, only for his eyes to widen at what he saw. "What the-?!" he exclaimed, everyone turning to see the leader of the Black Arms floating in front of them. Well, it might not be the ACTUAL Black Doom, exactly; if it was, then he really changed since the last time they saw him. Rather than a worn robe with shoulder pads, golden chains with spiked ornaments, and a golden chain necklace with a gem in the center of the star ornament, this Black Doom wore the ragged remains of human clothes and a necklace made of bones. But the most noticeable difference was that he was much larger than they remembered Black Doom to be, being a little less than half the size he was when he transformed into Devil Doom.

"I don't believe it! Black Doom… here?!" Tails exclaimed.

"What?! How is this possible?!" Knuckles yelled.

"NEW TARGET ACQUISITION. SIGHTS LOCKED ONTO BLACK DOOM." Omega droned.

Rouge said, "Omega's right, Red. We'll ask questions after we beat him!"

Sonic called back, "Wait, hold on!" He then turned to look at Shadow and shouted, "Shadow, what are you doing?! Get away from there!"

The black hedgehog didn't respond to Sonic's shouting or the fact that Black Doom was approaching him, likely attracted by the Black Arms blood that flowed through him. He looked like he was lost in a trance, paralyzed with shock at the sight of the one that had been partly responsible for his creation as well as the death of Maria. No matter how much he tried to reason with himself, Shadow couldn't shake the feeling that was overriding his senses.

The rest of his companions started shouting as well, but Shadow didn't snap out of it until he saw Black Doom basically in front of him, reaching for him with his right hand. The large black alien grabbed him around his waist, trapping his right arm to his side while his left was able to move freely. That should've been enough to free himself since he didn't need both arms to accurately throw a Chaos Spear, but his mind was still reeling at what was happening. When he did try to hit Black Doom with a Chaos Spear, the projectiles completely missed their intended target.

"Shadow's in trouble! We've gotta help him!" Tails exclaimed.

Knuckles dashed towards Black Doom with a fist held back, yelling, "Let him go!" Black Doom saw him coming and floated away from the platform, out of the echidna's reach with Shadow still held firmly in his hand. The black hedgehog looked like he was trying to break free, but Knuckles wasn't sure if he could hit Black Doom hard enough while gliding through the air to help Shadow.

Tails spun his twin namesakes around and flew up after Black Doom, firing Energy Balls at him once he was above him. Unfortunately, the electric spheres moved too slowly to hit Doom from the distance Tails was flying behind him. The only way he could see that would guarantee a hit would be to land on his back and shoot, but every time he got close enough to do that, Black Doom phased out of sight, taking Shadow with him.

Omega spoke, "THE TWIN-TAILED MEATBAG WILL GET NOWHERE LIKE THIS." He then revealed his entire arsenal and said, "ALL WEAPONS PRIMED. COMMENCE FIRING."

Rouge yelled, "No, Omega! You'll hit Tails and/or Shadow!" But Omega didn't listen to her; he had been waiting for the chance to really blow something up for a while, and what better chance than now? He began by firing his missiles, all of them locked onto Black Doom. The alien, however, merely phased out of sight with Shadow again, which left Tails in that much more trouble. The two-tailed fox changed course, flying as fast as he could while trying to avoid Omega's missiles.

Miraculously, Tails managed to escape the missile barrage without getting even a hair burnt, although he came close to getting hit a few times. He shakily landed back on the platform, Sonic rushing to his side to check on him. While they were there, Black Doom suddenly appeared behind them. Omega turned in that direction, his sensors locking onto Black Doom while seeming to ignore the hedgehog and fox in front of him. Sonic and Tails panicked at this, but Rouge forcibly stopped him before he could use his flamethrowers, as she kicked him in the side of the face and knocked him over.

Sighing in relief, Tails looked up at Sonic and asked, "Sonic, what are we going to do?! Shadow's freaking out and we can't get to him!"

Sonic thought a moment before replying, "I've got an idea! You and Knuckles try to get close to him, close enough that he does that disappearing act! I'll take it from there!" Although confused, Tails ran over to Knuckles and told him what Sonic said, the red echidna eventually agreeing to it. As Black Doom circled the arena again, Shadow now struggling to get free, Tails and Knuckles leapt off the platform, heading straight for him. Before they could reach him, he once again phased out of sight, Tails slowing down afterwards to avoid slamming into the wall while Knuckles grabbed onto it.

Sonic glanced around until he noticed the telltale signs of Black Doom reappearing. He then asked, rhetorically, "Any objections, Shadow?" He then tapped a few buttons on his wrist, activating his Space Jump Boots and Sawnic Attack. He then activated the boots, heading for the spot where Black Doom was appearing. The black alien grunted in surprise as he saw Sonic shooting towards him, unable to phase out again so soon. Sonic curled up into a Sawnic Attack, his metal quills going across Doom's underside before he uncurled. He landed feet-first on the wall, doing a Wall Jump off of it in Black Doom's direction and firing a charged Plasma Beam shot at the alien.

Doom's grip on Shadow was already weakening when Sonic first hit him, but that shot did it. As he was sent reeling, he finally let Shadow go, the black hedgehog headed for the platform in the center of the room. Sonic tried to grab him, trying to give him a softer landing, but Shadow did a flip in midair and attempted to slow his descent with his air shoes. He lost his composure, however, and ended up landing face first on the platform, Rouge immediately flying over to him.

Black Doom hovered over the platform, casting his shadow over Shadow and Rouge. Sonic, who had just landed a moment ago, saw this and yelled at the alien, "Hey, jerk! Yeah, I'm talking to you! What's your problem, huh?! What's with the silent treatment?!" Black Doom's three red eyes turned in Sonic's direction, glaring at him, but the blue hedgehog wasn't the least bit intimidated. "Man, I would expect this kind of treatment from Eggman's robots, but not from someone as ugly as you! And treating your own flesh and blood like that…!" he went on.

Black Doom looked even angrier at that, but all he did was let out a fierce growl at Sonic. "What?! Come down here and say that to my face! Maybe I can teach you a thing or two about being civilized while you're down here!" he retorted. He then readied his Plasma Beam, pulling his arm back as he charged it.

Rouge, meanwhile, was shaking Shadow while saying, "Come on, Shadow! Get up! This is no time to be snoozing!"

Shadow soon shook his head and looked up to see Sonic and Omega standing next to each other, ready to attack Black Doom. "What… What are they doing…?" he murmured.

Rouge said, "Looks like the blue bomber wants to get some payback for you. You might want to let him until you can fight again."

Shadow growled, "N-No! I'm fine! I… I can take him out myself!" As he was saying this, he stood up and tried to move towards Black Doom, but his steps were shaky and he almost fell over. He groaned, "Ugh… Did Black Doom drain my power while he was holding me?"

Rouge came up behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders, saying, "Maybe, but I think you're just still in shock over his return, just like we all are."

On the other side of the platform, five black clouds formed around Black Doom as he growled at Sonic and Omega. He then swung his arms, causing meteors to fly out at the two. Omega grabbed Sonic and threw him towards the meteors, the blue hedgehog going into another Sawnic Attack and slicing right through the rocks. Black Doom, however, moved out of the way before he could get hit by Sonic, forcing the hedgehog to uncurl and use his Space Jump Boots to keep himself from going over the side of the platform. Omega attempted to blast Doom with his machine guns, but the alien simply phased out of sight again.

Everyone looked around, waiting for Black Doom to reappear. Sonic soon heard a sound behind him and, without turning around, stuck his right arm under his left one and fired a charged Plasma Beam shot. The deep groan that immediately followed told him that he hit Doom and he spun around to see the alien floating away from him. Tails flew up behind the alien, firing Energy Balls at him and managing to hit him twice before he phased out again.

As Sonic and Knuckles stood with their backs together, Black Doom suddenly reappeared in Knuckles' line of sight. He summoned a purple energy boomerang, his Swift Strike, and sent it towards the duo. Knuckles alerted Sonic before taking to the air, the blue hedgehog turning around to see it coming for him and doing a back flip to jump over it. Part of the Swift Strike hit his feet just as he was coming back down, however, causing his boots to sparkle a bit. A message soon flashed on his HUD, "_Warning! Warning! Space Jump Boots have suffered minor damage! Space Jump system may not function at full capacity! Immediate maintenance is recommended!_"

Sonic didn't have any time for repairs at the moment, especially since he saw Black Doom in front of Omega, the hulking robot retracting his hands and pointing his arms up at the black alien. Doom threw two blades composed of flames at Omega, the robot responding by firing several missiles at the black alien. One of them hit Black Doom, but the rest either missed or were hit by the blades of fire. The ones that were hit by the blades stopped them, but also created a large cloud of smoke that covered the whole platform.

Rouge was able to carry Shadow up out of the smoke and Knuckles was able to jump towards a wall and cling onto it, but Tails wasn't as fortunate. He had had his back turned when the missiles exploded, so when he turned around, he was engulfed by a cloud of smoke. He began coughing, covering his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut to try to keep the smoke out but ultimately unable to do much more. Sonic was able to make him out through the smoke and, after taking a moment to take a deep breath, dashed to Tails' side, pulling his helmet off and quickly forcing it onto the fox's head. Although surprised, Tails immediately felt a little better due to the helmet containing a little clean air.

Before either had a chance to say anything, they saw something purple approaching them, another Swift Strike! Sonic pushed Tails to the side and then dashed to the opposite side, managing to reach a clear spot on the platform, the smoke beginning to dissipate. Sonic took a quick breath and looked around for Black Doom, soon seeing the alien nearby glaring at him. The alien summoned meteors, hurling them at Sonic as the blue hedgehog dodged them and prepared a counterattack. Before he could attack, however, Black Doom teleported right in front of him and swung an arm at him, punching Sonic right in the face. The force of the punch sent Sonic flying over the edge of the platform, gravity quickly catching up with him and beginning to drag him down to the lake of lava below!

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed, pulling his best friend's helmet off and letting it fall from his grip as he dashed towards the edge of the platform. He soon slid to a stop, however, as Black Doom saw him running and moved so he was floating in front of the edge, effectively keeping him from going after Sonic.

All of a sudden, something slammed into Black Doom from the side, knocking him towards the wall, a hail of yellow projectiles following him and exploding upon contact. Tails looked to see Shadow using his air shoes to hover in the air, the black hedgehog having used Homing Attack and Chaos Spear to attack. Before Tails could say anything, Shadow yelled in his direction, "Go after him!" Not needing to be told twice, Tails leapt over the edge of the platform, beginning to spin his twin namesakes as he fell after Sonic. Shadow, meanwhile, landed on the platform as Black Doom teleported above it, now ready to fight.

Below the platform, Sonic was still falling back first towards the lava lake. Near the wall, he could see a few outcroppings above the lava, but he was going to need a boost to reach them. He attempted to ignite his Space Jump Boots, but the spark wasn't catching. "Come on… Come on…" he muttered worriedly. He kept trying, doing so more rapidly, but the damage from just a few minutes ago was preventing his boots from lighting up.

Sonic suddenly looked up as he heard Tails shout, "Sonic!" The fox was flying down towards him, his arms held out towards him to try to grab him. With his Jet Anklets, it looked like the fox would reach him in plenty of time. They both began to feel relieved as Tails got closer, the fox calling, "Grab a hold of my hands!" Sonic held out his arms; just a few more feet and…

All of a sudden, a bright red light flashed through the Geothermal Power Plant, blinding both Sonic and Tails. Even though they couldn't see, they both had a general idea of where the other was, so after a moment, they both reached out with their hands to grab the other. But all either of them grabbed was air…

Sonic, in a desperate last attempt, disengaged the remainder of his suit and curled up into a Spin Dash, even though he wouldn't be able to redirect himself without holding onto someone else. The heat from the lava below was already beginning to creep up on him, and neither he nor Tails could see due to the red light at the moment. The heat began to get closer and closer…

Up on the platform, Shadow sighed as he dropped down to the ground, having just finished using Chaos Blast. He looked up to see Black Doom appearing to be ready to fall, his torn clothing looking even more ripped and torn. The black alien looked up at Shadow, glaring at him, only to get hit with another Homing Attack and a Chaos Attack, Shadow kicking him multiple times in midair. After he finished, Black Doom gave out one last groan before falling and landing face first on the ground.

Aside from the sound of the lava pouring in, there was complete silence in the room. Knuckles, Rouge, and Omega looked at Shadow's back from a short distance away, the black hedgehog looking down on the motionless body of Black Doom. The silence was eventually broken when a sound was heard behind Knuckles, Rouge, and Omega. Everyone turned to see Tails coming up near the side of the platform. But someone was missing…

After Tails landed, before anyone else had a chance to react, Shadow immediately made his way over to the fox, his fists clenched at his sides. When he reached the fox, he demanded, "Where. Is. Sonic?"

Tails muttered, "I… We…"

He didn't get any further than that, due to Shadow grabbing the fox boy by the fur on his chest and pulling him forward so their faces were inches apart. He growled, "Don't make me ask you again, Tails! Where is he?!"

Tails whimpered under Shadow's hard gaze for a moment before he closed his eyes and cried, "I don't know! I almost grabbed him when that red light blinded me! I tried to grab him, but I didn't grab anything and when my vision cleared, Sonic was gone! I didn't see him on any of the outcroppings down there, so…!"

Any further debate was cut off when everyone heard a growl coming from Black Doom. Everyone turned to see the black alien hovering above the platform, his red eyes furious. He charged towards the group of five, Knuckles, Rouge, and Omega leaping away from where they were standing. Shadow, on the other hand, wrapped one of his arms around Tails' torso while he used the other to throw a Chaos Spear at Black Doom. The black alien dodged it and tried to grab Shadow again, only for Shadow to do a back flip out of the way while still holding onto Tails, moving them both away from the danger.

After missing them, Black Doom changed directions and flew towards the wall near the entrance to the power plant, phasing out as he approached it. Shadow growled at the way the alien fled from him and released Tails, shouting, "BLACK DOOM!" He then went into a Spin Dash, shooting towards the same wall and going through it, creating a sizable hole out. Rouge and Omega immediately followed after him, leaving Tails and Knuckles alone in the power plant. The only other thing in there was Sonic's blue helmet…

* * *

_**I wondered if Sonic was still conscious when he hit bottom. I wanted to get as far away as I could at the moment, unable to face Tails or Knuckles. I regretted not being able to help him, as well as ever thinking, even for a moment, that he would betray me or fail to come to my aid at the expense of his own safety.**_

_-Shadow the Hedgehog_

* * *

I wonder if I'll get any angry comments for this...

I moved the opening quote to the end of the chapter so that there wouldn't be any spoilers.

Music:

Approaching the Power Plant - Lost Colony (Sonic Adventure 2)

The Creature's True Identity - Black Doom (Shadow the Hedgehog)

VS. Black Doom - Ridley (Metroid: Other M)

Aftermath - The Third Echelon (Main Theme) (Splinter Cell: Double Agent)_  
_


	11. Nicky

_**Something was worrying me. Knuckles used my headset several times after we left the Geothermal Power Plant to try to contact Shadow, but he never got a response. Considering what the Deleter was trying to do, Sonic and Shadow would represent the greatest threats. With Sonic gone, Shadow and the rest of Team Dark would no doubt be in danger. But it was Shadow the Hedgehog; he wouldn't go down easily. And he would already know about the Deleter, so he wouldn't let his guard down. But even though he made a way out of the Power Plant and went after Black Doom in a rage, I couldn't help but worry at his silence. What did he think of the current situation and what was he planning to do? And Sonic… I couldn't stop thinking about him…**_

_-Miles "Tails" Prower_

* * *

After leaving the Geothermal Power Plant the same way that Team Dark did, Knuckles and Tails found that Shadow and his team had disappeared. Having no idea what to do now, Knuckles began leading the way back to the elevator out of Sector 2 while using the communicator in Tails' headset to try to contact Shadow, Tails following behind him slowly. By the time they reached the elevator, Knuckles had tried to contact Shadow four times and had received no response each time. Frustrated, Knuckles led Tails into the elevator, which they were currently riding back up to the Main Sector.

"Argh, I can't believe this, Tails! The idiots in charge of this station actually had a clone of Black Doom here! What were they thinking?" Knuckles yelled. Tails quietly nodded in response as Knuckles went on, "And then there's Shadow! I can understand why he'd freak out at the sight of Black Doom, but he didn't have to take off like that! He could've at least told us what to do!"

Tails muttered, "Yeah…"

Knuckles looked over at him and asked, "What's eating you?"

Tails murmured, "Sonic…"

Knuckles groaned and rubbed his forehead with his left hand for a moment before saying, "Look Tails, you're not the only one upset here. I'm not happy about it and, although he would never admit it to anyone, I'm sure Shadow doesn't feel very good about it either. I understand all that completely, but we're in the middle of a dangerous situation here. We have to be ready for anything or we could die here. Just bear with me and try to pay at least a little attention, okay?" Tails nodded and then curled his twin tails around his front, hugging them as he sat down on the floor, waiting for the elevator to reach its destination.

Soon, the elevator reached the Main Sector and Knuckles helped Tails to his feet, walking him over to the door. As they stepped out of the elevator, both Tails and Knuckles heard something nearby and turned their heads to the right. They saw someone wearing a United Federation Power Suit walking in the direction of the Sector 1 elevator and, moments later, they heard the door to the elevator slide open. Tails and Knuckles looked at each other and then made their way over to the elevator. It returned after a minute had passed and they boarded it, going after the mystery soldier.

The elevator soon reached its destination and Tails and Knuckles stepped out, heading into the Biosphere for the second time. Tails seemed to be a little more focused now, since he made sure to shoot at the Reo that were flying around in the plant-entangled room that used to house several Fly Pods. They then headed for the circular room where they were ambushed last time, this time being attacked by a pair of Griptians. They were just as ferocious as ever, but Tails and Knuckles were able to coordinate their attacks well enough to deal with them.

After catching their breaths, the fox and echidna moved onto the room with the large tree-like structure. As they reached the center of the room, they saw their mystery target running through the hatch on the left side of the room. They were quick to follow after dealing with another Griptian and several Geemers. They then continued after the sneak, who they assumed was the Deleter.

They pursued the owner of the runaway Power Suit through several familiar rooms, encountering a Gripper and several Sidehoppers along the way. After passing through a familiar Navigation Booth, they climbed over a set of vines in the next hallway and went through the hatch at the end. As they stepped inside the next room, a bridge that went over a lowered, somewhat damaged section of the room split in two and retracted out of sight. Shortly after it retracted, the mystery sneak appeared from behind a terminal on the other side and glanced back at Tails and Knuckles before running through the nearby hatch into the next room.

Knuckles looked back to see that their target had made sure to destroy the terminal on their side so they wouldn't be able to extend the bridge. But he wasn't worried. "This guy doesn't know who he's trying to lose, does he? Tails, you got this?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm on it, Knuckles!" Tails replied as he began spinning his twin tails around like a propeller behind him. He then flew over to the other side of the room, where he began messing with the terminal. The bridge extended to its open position a moment later and Knuckles ran across it over to Tails. Both of them then went through the hatch and found that it led to an elevator. Seeing no other way out of the room, they boarded the elevator and stood in the middle of it as it began moving downwards.

The elevator soon arrived at its destination and Tails and Knuckles got out. They found themselves in a small room that led to a Navigation Booth, which told them that the area they were in was referred to as the Bioweapon Research Center. Intrigued, they moved onto the next room, which was an entrance corridor. Before they went through the hatch at the end, Tails and Knuckles took a moment to get ready, wanting to try to get the drop on the Deleter if he was up ahead.

They entered the room quietly, Tails watching the left side while Knuckles kept an eye on the right. Aside from the stairs on the left, a sealed off hatch in the corner, a computer console, and a large machine to their right, the room they were walking through appeared to be deserted. Before either of them could say anything, a sound from the computer console caught their attention and they turned to face it. As if it had somehow detected their presence, the main screen of the console and the screens around it lit up. Curious, Tails walked over to it and Knuckles looked around one more time before following him.

Tails sat down in the seat in front of the console and looked at the main screen. There was a QWERTY keyboard in the center near the bottom, a box above it asking for a login and password entry. The fox began typing on the touchscreen, even though he had no clue what the password was while Knuckles watched over his shoulder. After two failed attempts, Knuckles asked, "No luck?"

Tails sighed, "Nope. I don't even know what the password to this might be. I'm sure only the BOTTLE SHIP personnel know what it is." He then crossed his arms on the console itself and rested his head on them, Knuckles placing a hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, they both heard the sound of a hatch opening and straightened up, looking to their right. It was the hedgehog they had run into back at the Materials Storehouse. He took a few steps out of the room he was in before he noticed Tails and Knuckles. He stared at them for a moment before ducking back inside the room, closing and locking the hatch when he was back inside.

Tails and Knuckles ran over to the hatch, stopping in front of it. Tails looked up at Knuckles, as if silently telling him to let him handle the situation, and then back at the hatch. He spoke, "We don't work for the United Federation. We came here because we intercepted the distress call. We're here on our own, not under anyone's orders. And we know that something is after you. Please, you must believe me."

There was a moment of silence, and then the lock on the hatch released. It slid open and the hedgehog took a step out, looking between Tails and Knuckles as he did. Tails said, "Thank you. I'm Tails and this is Knuckles." He gestured to the echidna as he said his name, who gave him a nod. Tails then asked, "What's your name?"

The hedgehog was silent for a second, making Tails and Knuckles wonder what he was thinking, but then he said, "N-Nicholas. Nicholas Amadeus Zared Olaf." Both Tails and Knuckles looked surprised at the hedgehog's long name; he quickly added, "But I prefer to be called Nicky. I'm an assistant to Madeline Bergman."

Knuckles asked, "You know Madeline Bergman? Where is she?"

Nicky looked away and ran his left hand up and down his right arm as he said, "I don't know. I haven't seen her since all this started."

Tails asked, "Do you think you can answer a few of our questions?"

Nicky replied, "Sure. …Can I sit down?" Tails nodded, so Nicky walked back into the storage room he was in, Tails and Knuckles following behind him. He went over to a crate in the room and sat down on top of it while Tails and Knuckles stood a short distance away from him. Nicky asked, "What do you want to know about?"

Knuckles said, "It seems as though this station is being used to illegally research and develop bioweapons for the United Federation. Is that what's really been going on here?"

Nicky nodded, "Yes. Behind closed doors, the UF was trying to create a special-forces unit composed of bioweapons. In order to make it happen, they were attempting to create an organization modeled after the Black Arms with their foot soldiers at the center. But, because of a certain… presence, the life-forms became ferocious. We were no longer able to control them."

Tails thought, "_He must be talking about Black Doom._" He then asked, "So you sent out the distress signal even though it endangered your life?"

Nicky nodded, "I had to. I felt there was a real danger here. That if left alone, the organisms aboard the station would eventually become just like the real Black Arms."

Tails thought, "_If that danger is real, then the risk of withholding information to protect himself is too great, clearly. And yet… isn't it possible that he was the one who set the facility's system to self-destruct? He's really brave and responsible in the face of such a danger, just like… Sonic…_"

Knuckles, meanwhile, was thinking, "_I don't know about this guy. Something about what he's saying doesn't seem to fit. If the Cyborg Black Arms, under Black Doom's influence, became super aggressive, would that really be enough to create a new legion of Black Arms? Without a malicious force to lead them down that path, wouldn't they just continue to follow their instincts, ultimately becoming no more than a swarm of feral creatures? Either way, it seems like the Federation is ready to send their enormous mistake to oblivion. And that's why they sent a Deleter: to erase Nicky and anyone else who found out about what was going on here._"

Tails spoke, "There's one thing I'm wondering, though. It wouldn't take much for the Federation's military force to destroy a station like this. Is there something here that they might want to… preserve?"

Nicky said nothing for a moment, and then he admitted, "Actually… There is. There was an even more dangerous plan in the works…" He stood up and walked towards the hatch, saying, "Come with me. I'll show you." Tails and Knuckles looked at Nicky's back for a moment before following him.

Outside, Nicky led Tails and Knuckles over to the computer console and sat in the seat in front of it. He then began typing on the keyboard on the console, entering a password. Tails watched him, following his fingers and seeing that the password was "PROJECTMET". When he hit 'Enter', the screen displayed the words, "Confirmed. Logging in…" It then said it was connecting to the server and, a few moments later, it read, "CONFIDENTIAL/TOP SECRET: Metroid Militarization Plan (PMW: Project Metroid Warriors) Concerning the feasibility of Metroids as military bioweapons".

Knuckles gasped, "What? But how? I thought all the Metroids were destroyed along with Planet SR388!"

Tails thought, "_Yes… And the last 'Metroid', Sonic, disappeared right in front of me…_"

Nicky asked, "You're friends of Sonic the Hedgehog, right?" When they both nodded, he continued, "Project Metroid Warriors was begun shortly after he returned from his mission aboard the SRL Station. He unknowingly provided the necessary material needed for the project."

Tails thought about this for a moment before he realized what Nicky was referring to. "The blood sample!" he gasped.

Nicky nodded, "Exactly. They were able to extract the bits of Metroid DNA from the sample and used them in conjunction with small bits of the samples recovered from the S.O.N.I.C.X. to make the Metroids in this facility. Although he provided a lot of DNA for the scientists to work with, Sonic isn't responsible for everything in this facility. They also got some samples from Shadow the Hedgehog after he returned from the Power Plant Zone."

Tails thought to himself, "_So that's it. The X that mimicked the Black Arms soldiers aboard the SRL Station provided the DNA to recreate them and they created a new Black Doom because his blood flows in Shadow's veins._"

Knuckles said, "Answer me this. To control the Black Arms, you'd need Black Doom to keep them in line." He turned to Nicky and asked, "Is that why you created a clone of that alien?"

Nicky shook his head and said, "At first, no one thought that worm was Black Doom. Even with all the enhancers and vitamins they shot it up with, they didn't think it had any potential as a bioweapon at all, especially since it didn't develop like the regular Black Arms did. So they kept it as a pet, calling it 'black worm Jim.' Until one day… It attacked one of the researchers and got away. Black Doom played dead and lured the scientist into his cage. What was left… It was a horrible sight."

Tails looked down and thought, "_That might explain the difference in Black Doom's appearance. Whatever they injected or fed him with must've made him bigger and stronger._" He then looked at Nicky and asked, "But didn't you need his powers to control the Cyborg Black Arms?"

Nicky shook his head, "No. We had our ways of keeping them under control. But you're right; we did need Black Doom for something. We needed his telepathic abilities to control the Metroids, but we were worried about what would happen if we intentionally created a clone of him. So we created something else."

Tails asked, "What did you create?"

Nicky turned to face Tails and Knuckles and said, "We needed to create something that would reproduce Black Doom's thought processes, but at the same time be more controllable. So we combined part of Shadow's DNA with the DNA of another organism, one that would be less likely to want to conquer the universe. We named the new organism… NAZO."

Knuckles asked, "Your little experiment worked? This NAZO was able to communicate with the Metroids here?"

Nicky nodded, "Yes. And he began to change as he communicated with the Metroids. It seems as though his repressed Black Arm heritage is beginning to emerge. It's really quite remarkable…"

Knuckles thought, "_That's why Nicky is so afraid of a new legion of Black Arms being born here. It's not that his story has holes in it; through the holes are glimpses of the danger of a project gone awry. If everything he's saying is true…_"

Tails spoke, bringing Knuckles back to reality, "Where are the Metroids and NAZO?"

Nicky began typing on the keyboard as he said, "They're in an area called Sector Zero. It's a unit that doesn't appear in any of our map data." He pressed a button and a holographic screen appeared in front of Tails and Knuckles, which displayed data on Sector Zero. Nicky continued, "It's modeled after some of Dr. Eggman's old bases, such as Scrap Brain Zone and Final Egg. It's where we propagate and raise Metroids."

Tails thought, "_I think I understand now. The ultimate warrior, the Metroid, was being mass-produced. And as soon as there was something in place to keep them under control, the plan to create a special-forces unit modeled after the Black Arms was replaced. It's like what Dr. Kai Narasu was hoping to do with the Metroids and X. But as the Federation's safeguard, NAZO, got out of control, the facility became a lot like one of Eggman's bases. If something isn't done, there's no telling what will happen. Even the ringleaders of the project don't want to find out, but they still want the Metroids._"

He pressed a hand against his head as he mentally continued, "_And that's why… They need to capture the Metroids in Sector Zero and 'delete' the rest of the facility, including the Black Arms, Black Doom, and everyone who knows the secret. But before the ringleaders could act, Shadow was sent in. Shadow might have known the truth about the facility or suspected it since the beginning of this mission. Regardless, since the ringleaders are members of the United Federation, they're unable to act recklessly. And so a Deleter was installed in the Sigma-Alpha 2 under Shadow's command to destroy evidence and plan each subsequent move. But our arrival and addition to the mission must have disrupted the Federation's plans._"

Tails lowered his hand and looked at Nicky and said, "Nicky, thank you for telling us all this. We have to get to Sector Zero and find the Metroids and NAZO. You have to remain hidden." Nicky stood up and looked down at the fox, who continued, "Don't worry. The team sent in by the military will help you. You're safe."

Nicky was silent for a moment and then he asked, "Is the leader of that team… Agent Shadow the Hedgehog?"

Knuckles replied, "Yeah. Why?"

Nicky explained, "The real leader of this operation is Shadow the Hedgehog. He's really here… Unbelievable…" He then looked to the side, having nothing else to say.

Knuckles turned to leave, Tails turning as well a moment later, then looked back at Nicky and said, "Stay hidden here until we return." He then walked in the direction of the hatch leading to the Sector 1 elevator, Tails following behind him. Nicky, meanwhile, turned back to the computer console and pressed a button on it, turning off the holographic screen.

As Tails and Knuckles walked out through the hatch, Tails thought to himself, "_I can see how the Federation might know about Final Egg, since its remains are still in the Mystic Ruins jungle, but how could they know about the Scrap Brain Zone? That's back on Mobius, and Sonic never went around talking about his past victories over Eggman as far as I know. Odd…_" The hatch slid shut behind him, the fox reminding himself that they had to get to Sector Zero and stop NAZO.

Back inside the room, Nicky heard the sound of footsteps coming down the nearby stairs. Once they reached the bottom step, the footsteps began to move in his direction…

* * *

Originally, Nicky's name was going to be Nicky Parlouzor, a slightly altered version of the name Nicky Parlouzer, which was the name of Sonic's alter-ego in an early Sonic the Hedgehog manga. I eventually rejected this name because... well, if you're familiar with the story of "Other M", you probably know why.


	12. Bearing the Burden

Tails and Knuckles found themselves faced with a pair of Griptians in the foyer of the Biosphere, the two aardvark-like creatures blocking the walkway leading to the large tree-like structure. Steeling themselves, the fox and echidna waited for the creatures to lunge at them, which they soon did. As they did, Tails spun his twin namesakes around and went under them while Knuckles jumped up and glided over their heads, both of them making it to the center of the room. Above them on the walkway spiraling around the tree, they could hear the sound of another Griptian coming down, so they dashed in the direction of the hatch that led to the elevator.

After leaving Nicky behind in what they assumed was the safety of the Bioweapon Research Center earlier, the duo took the elevator back up to Sector 1. On the ride up, Tails looked over the maps of the station and determined that there was one area in Sector 2 that they hadn't explored yet. Recognizing the closest room to it as the one where they had seen a Gigafraug that had shown possible signs of Metroid predation, Tails decided that that was their next destination once they reached the Cryosphere. As soon as the elevator reached its destination, the two set out for the elevator back up to the Main Sector, which brings us to the present.

The two entered the circular room where they had been attacked by two Ghalmanians the first time they visited the sector, heading straight for the hatch on the opposite side of the room. As the hatch opened, they were greeted with an unwelcome visitor. The Rhedogian they had encountered twice before came sliding into the room, directly towards Tails and Knuckles. Luckily, they managed to dodge to the side, Tails leaping to the right while Knuckles leapt to the left. After they landed, they turned around to face the Rhedogian, which was now hovering above the hatch they had just come from.

The Rhedogian turned its attention to Tails and swooped down towards him. As it got closer, Tails leapt up, causing it to slam into the glass, and summoned his arm cannon just before gravity began to pull him back down. He then landed on the Rhedogian's front, using his free hand to hold onto one of its horns, and charged up an Energy Ball, firing it directly down at the creature when it was ready. He then used his tails to jet away before it could try to grab him.

After recovering from the shot, the Rhedogian turned to Knuckles, the echidna rushing towards it with his fists ready. The Rhedogian took to the air again and swooped down towards Knuckles, who came to a stop before it hit him. He then swung his right fist into its face, breaking through its attack and sending it flying into one of the sheets of glass surrounding the room.

It soon flew back into the room, however, and fired a volley of missiles at the two, forcing them to get out of their path. They stood next to each other afterwards and, after a moment of whispering to each other, readied themselves. They dodged two more swooping attacks, staying close to each other while they waited for their chance. After dodging the second swoop, Knuckles grabbed Tails' arm and began to swing him around. As the Rhedogian fired more missiles, Knuckles released Tails' arm, sending him flying towards the Rhedogian. The fox curled up into a ball as he approached the creature, pushing it through another piece of glass into the wall while Knuckles dodged the missiles.

After leaping back into the room, Tails expected the Rhedogian would soon follow, but instead it gave out a cry as it fell to the floor. There was a series of mini explosions before it landed; a small glowing orb appeared where it landed, which soon rolled into the circular room. Tails walked over to it and picked it up, examining it. Knuckles came up beside him and asked, "What is it, Tails?"

The fox replied, "I don't know. Maybe…" He summoned his arm cannon again and pressed the orb against it. As they touched, the cannon gave off a cyan glow for a moment before fading, the orb disappearing from Tails' hand.

Knuckles raised an eye, "What did it do?"

Tails answered, "I have no idea. I guess I'll have to test it on something to make sure it still works." After leaving the circular room behind, they entered the room that was teeming with plant life, where they were immediately approached by five Reos. Tails immediately brought his arm cannon up and charged up an Energy Ball, relieved to see that it still seemed to be working. What happened next caught him by surprise, though. When he fired the ball of electrical energy, it broke off into five shots, each one hitting a different Reo and causing them to flee. "Whoa! It's never done that before!" Tails exclaimed.

Knuckles suggested, "It must be because of that orb. It was holding some kind of upgrade that allows your shots to split up and 'seek' different targets."

Tails glanced down at his cannon as he murmured, "A seeker shot? Hm, I wonder if there are any other uses for it."

Knuckles spoke, "We'll worry about that later. Come on, we're almost out of here." Tails nodded and the two of them headed for the elevator back to the Main Sector, stopping in the Navigation Booth real quick to recharge and look themselves over. Afterwards, they took the elevator back up to the Main Sector and then boarded the elevator to Sector 2.

Without their environmental suits, Tails and Knuckles could really feel the biting cold of the Cryosphere as soon as they entered the room past the sector elevator. Thankfully, Tails had planned out their route while they were on the elevator so they were able to take the shortest path to their destination while running into minimal resistance along the way. Aside for a Baristute past the elevator and two Baristutes in the room they were trying to reach, the few creatures they encountered on the way didn't slow them down too much.

As they approached the hatch they needed to go through, they realized that there appeared to be a lock on it that had five energy pods attached to it. Tails examined it for a moment before turning to Knuckles and saying, "I think this new upgrade will come in handy here." With that, he called upon his arm cannon and began charging an Energy Ball; when it was ready, he pointed it towards the door and fired. The shot broke into five smaller shots, each one hitting an energy pod on the door and filling it with an electric charge. Moments later, the pods closed and the lock retracted, the lights on the hatch changing from red to green as it unlocked.

Knuckles nodded to Tails and the two of them moved on, going through the hatch and taking a left turn through another hatch into a hallway. As they neared the hatch at the other end, they suddenly came to a halt when they heard what sounded like a creature roaring. They looked around, Knuckles muttering, "Now what?"

Suddenly, they lifted off the floor and started falling towards the ceiling! Thankfully, they managed to flip themselves over so they landed on their feet instead of their heads. After making sure they weren't going to fall back down again, they noticed that the air around them seemed wavy. "Wow, this is kind of like that time we went through that creepy castle," Tails noted.

Knuckles replied, "Yeah, no kidding. Got any ideas on how we can get back to the floor this time around?"

Tails thought about it for a moment and then he said, "Well, we figured out how to get back down by looking around back then. Maybe we need to do the same thing here." Knuckles nodded and walked over to a nearby part of the ceiling, using his fists to climb… up while Tails spun his twin tails around to follow him. They then continued on through the hatch, climbing, gliding, and flying up through the next room to reach the next hatch and get through the following hall.

Shortly after entering the room following the second hall, gravity suddenly flipped on them again, causing them to fall back down to the floor, both of them once again landing on their feet. But something was different. "Argh… What the heck? I feel like I'm carrying a huge boulder on my back!" Knuckles growled as he found it a strain to lift his feet up off the ground.

"It's… gotta be something that they were researching here. I don't think NAZO would be able to naturally manipulate gravity like this," Tails groaned as he tried to keep his namesakes up before letting them drop to the ground, each of them feeling like they weighed 20 pounds.

Knuckles growled as he stood up straight, "Maybe so, but he's probably controlling it somehow to keep us from reaching him. He might slow us down, but this isn't going to be enough to stop us!"

Tails tried walking a few steps while dragging his twin tails behind him, finding each step he took required more effort than normal, before replying, "I guess as long as we can keep walking, we should be able to keep going." With that, they headed for the nearby hatch, slowly jogging as fast as they could with gravity weighing down on them.

The next room was a hallway populated by Cyclaws hanging from the ceiling, ready to drop down on top of the duo. They managed to avoid the falling bats and entered the next room, which, unfortunately, contained several rises in the floor. The ledges were higher than Tails' head, so Knuckles had to help him climb up and over them, seeing as the fox could barely get off the ground for even a second and Knuckles didn't want him to hurt himself trying to pull himself up with gravity working against them.

Just when they thought they were getting used to the intense gravity, it changed on them again when they entered the next room. Now, instead of being forced down to the ground, they found themselves floating off of it as zero gravity came into effect. As they floated in the air, Knuckles groaned, "Okay, this is getting ridiculous! What is going on here?"

Tails replied, "Ah, stop complaining, Knuckles. Personally, I think this is better than what we just went through. At least it's easier to get around like this." He then spun his namesakes and easily flew around in a circle to demonstrate his point.

Knuckles watched him for a moment before flipping himself over so his stomach was facing the ground and found he could still trap air under his dreadlocks, allowing him to glide. He conceded, "Okay, so it's not so bad right now. It's still annoying, though."

Tails nodded, "Yeah. Guess we'd better keep moving." They then turned and began making their way through the room while avoiding all of the creatures that were flailing helplessly in the air. When they needed to go up, Knuckles either used his fists to climb up a nearby wall or he grabbed onto Tails, who could've easily pulled the echidna the whole way if he had wanted to since no gravity meant nothing to pull Knuckles back down.

The duo quickly made it to the top of the room and maneuvered their way into the next room. It was a short hallway that curved to the left partway; after making the turn, they headed for the hatch to the next hallway. Just as they reached it, the gravity suddenly returned to normal, Knuckles almost landing on his head due to how close to the ground he was while Tails was startled by the sudden force trying to pull him down. They both looked at each other for a moment after they landed before they shrugged and moved on, entering the next hall and heading for the Navigation Booth at the end.

Tails and Knuckles stepped out of the Navigation Booth into the next room and immediately started looking around. The whole room appeared to have a cylindrical shape to it and there were three platforms attached to the wall that encircled the room. There was an odd machine in the middle of the room and above it, on the ceiling, there appeared to be a mass of cables connected to another machine that had some kind of 'tail' sticking out. Seeing nothing else of interest in the room, Tails and Knuckles made their way to the top of the room, heading for a hatch.

Just as they reached the hatch, electricity suddenly sparked through the cables attached to the machine, Tails and Knuckles turning around to look. Moments later, they got the feeling that gravity was pulling down on them again, both of them grunting at the unexpected sensation as something pulled itself free of the machine. Tails and Knuckles managed to look up at it and realized that it was the Nightmare, the same creature Sonic faced back on the SRL Station!

While the Nightmare shook the last of the cables off, Knuckles asked, "How is that thing here? I thought Sonic destroyed it!"

Tails said, "Well, Nicky did say that they used Sonic's DNA to create new Metroids plus a bunch of other stuff on this station. I guess even Nightmare could be recreated because of that."

Knuckles didn't get a chance to respond as the Nightmare had broken free and began firing purple spheres at them. Even though gravity was weighing down on them, they managed to get out of the way. As he stood up, Knuckles growled, "Argh… With the gravity like this, we can barely jump at all! How are we supposed to fight this thing if we can't even get close to it?"

Tails looked at the Nightmare organism for a moment, analyzing it before standing up and calling to Knuckles, "Maybe we can beat it the same way Sonic did! If I can hit its Gravity Manipulator with my shots, I might be able to overload it and shut it down!"

Knuckles called back, "Okay, give it a try! I'll cover you as best I can!" Tails nodded and summoned his arm cannon while Knuckles ran over to him. The fox activated his arm cannon's lock-on mode to ensure that his shots would hit, even if it meant sacrificing some of their normal power, and began charging it.

While he was charging, Nightmare fired two spheres at them. Instead of telling Tails to get out of the way, Knuckles used his fists to knock them back, one of them hitting the wall on the other side of the room and the other hitting Nightmare, temporarily stunning it. While it was unable to move, Tails popped out from behind Knuckles and fired a shot at Nightmare's Gravity Manipulator. It appeared to have an effect on the Manipulator since it seemed to rotate faster and shot off a few sparks.

Knuckles continued countering Nightmare's attacks when he was able to, alerting Tails when an attack was coming that he couldn't stop, while the fox kept charging shots and firing them at the Gravity Manipulator. This eventually did the trick, as the Gravity Manipulator suddenly let out a loud whine before exploding due to all the gathered electricity. Knuckles grinned, "All right, that takes care of that! What's next?"

Before Tails could answer, Nightmare, who was still floating in the air, held out its arms and began charging its lasers, firing and running them around the perimeter of the room when they were fully charged. After they both landed after leaping over the lasers, Tails said, "Go for the face! That was its weak spot last time!" He then disengaged his arm cannon's lock-on and flew towards Nightmare while charging up another shot. When Nightmare turned around to face him, he fired at its mask, which seemed to hurt it.

Seeing this, Knuckles called, "Hey, save some for me!" Tails turned and flew away when the Nightmare tried to grab him, Knuckles leaping from the edge of the platform afterwards and jumping towards Nightmare, delivering a fist to its face that noticeably cracked its mask and sent it flying into the wall. After it recovered, it began floating again and started attacking the two again, who were doing much better now that it couldn't mess with gravity.

Eventually, after avoiding a tackle from Nightmare, Tails delivered a shot to the creature's face that made it pause for a moment, and then a bright light began to shine from between the cracks in its mask. Shortly afterwards, the mask broke apart, exposing its green six-eyed face. It screeched as it suddenly lost control, flying around the room and slamming into the walls and platforms.

After making a particularly hard hit against the wall, it slid down onto the platform below and slid off of that, falling to the ground below where Knuckles was waiting. To make sure it stayed down, he leapt up towards it and delivered a potent uppercut to its face, sending it right up into the ceiling. When it hit, it broke into several pieces, its head landing near the machine in the middle of the room while the other pieces of its body landed elsewhere in the room. After taking a minute to catch their breaths, Tails and Knuckles went up to the top of the room, going through the hatch leading to Sector Zero.

As they ran through the hallway that followed, a sudden tremor rocked BOTTLE SHIP, causing them to stop in place. "What's happening now?" Knuckles groaned.

Tails glanced over at a nearby monitor and murmured, "Something's activated this station's engines. We're moving…"

Knuckles said, "Then my money's on either NAZO or the Deleter being behind it. Come on, let's get to Sector Zero and stop NAZO so we can get back to Nicky." He then ran towards the hatch at the end of the corridor, Tails following behind him. The hatch led them to an elevator, which took them down to Sector Zero. They stopped in the Navigation Booth at the entrance to make sure they were all set for whatever was coming next and then ran through the next corridor, lights turning on as they made their way through it.

At the end of the corridor, they found a hatch that they guessed would lead them into the main part of Sector Zero. Knuckles turned to Tails and said, "All right, this is it, Tails. You ready for this?"

Tails looked at the hatch for a moment before looking back at Knuckles and nodding, "Yeah. Let's do it to it." Knuckles nodded back and they stepped through the hatch together.

Although he'd never seen it before it was destroyed, Tails had asked Sonic once about what Dr. Eggman's Final Egg base was like. What Knuckles and Tails found looked similar to the way the hedgehog described the doctor's base while also looking like something the United Federation would build. There were several rows of pillars on the right and left sides from where Tails and Knuckles were all the way to the other side of the room. The floor was a dark brown and the walls were a gray color. It almost seemed a bit lifeless to them. Pushing those thoughts aside, they slowly began making their way towards the door on the opposite side of the room.

As they passed the first set of pillars, Tails thought he heard something behind them but saw nothing when he looked back. They continued on, passing the second set of pillars; Tails looked back again only to see an empty room. But this time, he was sure he heard something! "Uh, Knuckles?" he asked.

"Shh!" Knuckles shushed him.

"But Knuckles…" Tails tried again.

"Not now, Tails! NAZO could be listening!" Knuckles chided him.

As they approached the last set of pillars, Tails whispered, "I thought I…" Suddenly, they both heard a soft squeak from somewhere in the room, causing them both to stop. "…heard something," he finished.

They both looked around, trying to locate the source of the squeak. Tails soon looked to his left, only to see something floating right in front of his face! "Aah!" he exclaimed, backing up into Knuckles as the intruder made a squeaking sound, the same one they heard.

Knuckles turned around when Tails bumped into him and, upon seeing the creature, asked, "Isn't that a…?"

Tails finished for him, "Baby Metroid?" They both stared at the floating jellyfish as it seemingly did the same. Instead of attacking them, it just floated around them while making soft squeaking noises.

After a minute, Knuckles said, "We don't have time for this, Tails. If it's one of the Metroids they're breeding here in Sector Zero, then we have to destroy it." Tails wanted to protest, wanted to say that the Metroid was so cute and that it wasn't attacking them, but he knew Knuckles was right. If it had already imprinted on NAZO, then it would attack them sooner or later. Tails nodded and they both got ready to take the creature out.

Before they could act, however, a powerful sound wave suddenly hit them both from behind, knocking them off their feet and leaving them dizzy! They both landed face first on the floor, the baby Metroid hovering around them like an orbiting moon. It continued observing them for a moment before letting out a hissing noise and revealing its maw! Just as it was about to attack them, a green foamy substance suddenly struck it from the side, the foam quickly hardening around its body and making it fall to the floor with a thud. Tails lost consciousness shortly after it hit the ground, the last sound entering his ears being the sound of approaching footsteps…

"Tails, Knuckles, can both of you hear me?" The familiar voice drifted into Tails' ears as he regained consciousness, calming his waking mind slightly.

"Loud and clear, Shadow…" the fox replied. He still felt a bit dizzy, but he managed to open his eyes and looked up to see Shadow crouching in front of him, Omega behind the black hedgehog, and Knuckles and Rouge to his right. The red echidna was already glaring at Rouge, so Tails assumed that he had woken up before he did.

While Tails tried to shake the remaining disorientation away, Shadow spoke, "You know what lies just beyond that door: the Metroids and the one that watches over them. The fruit of a twisted project within the United Federation."

Tails nodded, "Yeah. So why did you attack us?" Knuckles looked over at Shadow upon hearing Tails' question, looking like he wanted to know the same thing.

Shadow simply said, "You can't destroy these Metroids."

Knuckles demanded, "What? What are you talking about?"

Shadow explained, "You saw what happened to that creature in Sector 2. It seems reasonable to assume that the Metroid's mortal weakness, vulnerability to cold, has been overcome through genetic manipulation. And that might not be all; there's a chance that other modifications may have been made to them to make them unstoppable."

Tails said, "But that baby Metroid earlier… That foamy stuff was able to stop it!" As he said this, he looked to the left, where he saw that the Metroid had been crushed, bits of it and the foam it had been encased in scattered across the floor.

Shadow nodded, "True. That could be because it was still in a larval stage, but who can say?"

Rouge spoke up, "One thing's for sure, though: someone's following in Dr. Kai's footsteps and propagating Metroids. But they're taking it one step further and are eliminating the one major flaw that these beasties have."

Shadow said, "It's hard to imagine anyone mass-producing defective bioweapons. Then again, a lot of what we've seen doesn't make sense. Metroids are clearly lethal – Sonic's decision to destroy their home planet, SR388, was a surprisingly wise one. As for right now, we can't let anyone get a hold of these new cold-resistant Metroids."

Shadow then stood up, but looked back down at Tails when the fox spoke, "Wait Shadow. Tell me something. Why are you credited as the creator of the Metroid military program report?"

Shadow explained, "Commander Tower approached me some time ago to write the report after receiving a request to authorize the program. In that report, I outlined the potential dangers of such a program and explained quite clearly why it shouldn't be attempted. The commander believed every word, but it would appear whoever requested authorization co-opted my report for their own purposes."

All of a sudden, the lights in the room lit up, making the room a lot brighter. Rouge glanced around as she said, "Looks like we've all got work to do, boys. We'd better get moving."

Shadow nodded, then glanced back at Tails and Knuckles and said, "The effects of Omega's ultrasonic waves should wear off completely soon. I have several missions for you two. This facility appears to be headed for Earth. If what Nicky said is correct, there's a distinct possibility that this is the start of an attack by NAZO against the Federation. One way or another, some sort of attack is clearly imminent. Find a way to divert the ship off its intercept course."

Rouge continued for him, "Omega's sensors indicate that there's a survivor in Room MW, which is near the back of the Bioweapon Research Center. Whoever it is will be a key witness. Find this survivor and keep them safe."

Shadow added, "And finish off Black Doom for me. He managed to escape while we were pursuing him, though he should be softened up enough for you two to take him out with little difficulty. A mutated Black Doom is as much of a threat as the Metroids. And one more thing." His face became especially stern as he said, "Do not regard this Nicky character as an ally. Something is not right about him. I've only heard his voice and that alone is enough to make me feel uneasy. Until you can prove who he is, keep him at arm's length." With that, he made a gesture with his hand towards Rouge and Omega and they followed him as he walked towards the door leading deeper into Sector Zero.

Knuckles stood up and made a step towards Team Dark, saying, "Hold on! What are you three planning to do with the Metroids here in Sector Zero?"

Rouge looked back at him and said, "Leave it to us, Red. We'll take care of this place."

Tails, while pressing his back up against the pillar he was leaning against, stood up and asked, "You have a plan for dealing with Metroids that could be unstoppable?"

Omega droned, "SECTOR ZERO HAS A SELF-DESTRUCT PROTOCOL. IF THE SECTOR SUSTAINS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DAMAGE, THE UNIT IS PROGRAMMED TO DETACH AND SELF-DESTRUCT. A POWERFUL EXPLOSION WILL ELIMINATE THE METROIDS AND NAZO WITHOUT LEAVING A TRACE."

Knuckles yelled, "Are you crazy, Shadow? You don't have a Chaos Emerald with you! You can't teleport as easily with Chaos Control without one! You can't risk the chance that you won't be able to teleport all three of you to safety before the sector self-destructs! At least leave Rouge and Omega behind so you'll have more Chaos energy available to use!"

Knuckles had stepped closer to the team at this point, so Rouge turned around completely and walked up to him, pressing a finger to his chest and asking, "Showing concern for me, Knuckie? You know, that makes me wonder about you." Although he didn't blush, Knuckles couldn't help but feel embarrassed by that.

Tails took a few uncertain steps towards Shadow as he said, "Knuckles is right, Shadow. It's too risky without a Chaos Emerald. There has to be another way!"

Shadow turned around to face him and walked over to him, holding out a hand to steady the fox and said, "Tails. If I could take this new Black Doom out myself, I would. But I can't. All the time I was chasing him, I could feel nothing but anger. Even though I managed to wound him, I could feel as though he was feeding off my anger. All those people on the ARK that day, and now Sonic... I can't focus when I think about how he's responsible for what happened to all of them. And unlike you and Sonic, I'm no hero. I'm not always dedicated to saving others just because I want to. But I can save you. And that's what he would want." After a moment of silence, he spoke, "You should be back to normal soon. There isn't much time. We all need to get started on our missions. I'm sorry I had Omega get rough with you two."

Rouge spoke, "Oh I wouldn't worry about it, Shadow. It might've done Knuckles some good in the long run."

Knuckles glared at her, "Very funny. And you're actually going along with this risky plan of his? This isn't like what I heard happened on Prison Island, you know. Getting locked in the safe was an accident and you were lucky Shadow was so dedicated to collecting the Chaos Emeralds to come back and help you. This is a little different, Rouge!"

The bat shrugged, "Doesn't seem that way to me. Besides, I know Shadow won't let us down. Especially not when I'm around."

Knuckles stated, "That still doesn't sound like you!"

Shadow cut off any further debate by saying, "Enough. We don't have a lot of time. Good luck, both of you." He then started towards the door, Omega and Rouge following behind him.

Tails tried to run after them, but he was still feeling dizzy from the ultrasonic waves and couldn't catch up with them. "Wait! Shadow, don't!" he cried as the airlock door slid open and they walked through it. He lost his balance and almost fell, but Knuckles ran up behind him and caught him. They both then looked on as the door slid shut and the airlock door locked. As the door on the other side opened, Tails regained his balance and wrestled out of Knuckles' grip, running up to the door and pounding on it.

Before he led his team through the airlock doors, Shadow looked back at Tails over his shoulder and said, "Believe in yourself. Not you, who believes in me. Not me, who believes in you. Believe in yourself, who believes in you. …That's one of the last things he said to you, right?" Although he couldn't hear Shadow through the door, Tails could tell by the way his mouth moved what he was saying. He looked down for a moment before looking back up with a more determined expression and nodding. Shadow returned the nod and then led Rouge and Omega into the depths of Sector Zero, the airlock door sliding shut behind them.

After a moment, Knuckles came up behind Tails and placed a hand on his shoulder, saying, "Come on, Tails, we've got to get out of here. There's no telling when the sector is going to detach itself and self-destruct. Besides… they're doing their job, so we should do ours." Tails slowly nodded and they both walked away from the door, glancing back at it briefly before exiting the room.

As they stepped back out into the corridor, they heard a female computer voice say, "Emergency in Sector Zero. Disengaging unit. Emergency in Sector Zero. Disengaging unit." Tails and Knuckles glanced at each other; that didn't take long. Not waiting to listen for the explosion, they started running down the corridor, suspecting that it was going to be detached from the station as well.

As they ran back through the corridor, Cyborg Black Arms dropped down from the ceiling, ready to attack them. They dealt with the first few, but there was no time to deal with them all because, not long afterwards, they began to feel something pulling at them from behind. Glancing back, they realized that part of the corridor had detached and was now floating through space! They freaked out at the sight of this, seeing the Cyborg Black Arms standing in their way get sucked out into the black void. Tails quickly grabbed Knuckles' hand and began spinning his twin namesakes around, putting his Jet Anklets to good use as he flew back towards Sector 2.

As Tails kept flying and dodging shots from the Cyborg Black Arms, the sections of the corridor continued to detach themselves from the station. But Tails' Jet Anklets allowed him and Knuckles to stay ahead of the black void behind them, the extra speed being the only thing keeping them from being sucked out. Ahead of them, the last blast door was closing, so Tails really pushed himself in order to make it, mustering up as much speed as he could. And it was just what they needed; they both made it through the closing door and rolled on their sides as they landed on the floor, the locks of the blast door clicking into place behind them.

* * *

_**Tails and I were the only ones to witness what might've been Team Dark's last moment, and though it shook us both, I think we were both calmer than usual. It was as if Shadow had granted us that eye-of-the-storm clarity – one final gift from him to us. There was no time to ponder whether they made it out of there in time. But there was time to say thanks… and promise that we would finish the mission for them.**_

_-Knuckles the Echidna_

* * *

Hey everyone. I'm finally back to writing this story. And the first thing I'd like to do is apologize for the long wait for this chapter. I really wanted to finish one of my other stories since it was so close to the end, so that's part of the reason why it's late. The other reason is school, just trying to keep up with everything. It really sucked the inspiration out of me.

Now, a few notes...

Obviously I had to come up with a replacement for the Seeker Missile upgrade and I figured Tails would be the best one to have something like that. So we'll just refer to the new shot as a seeker shot. It basically does the same thing as the Seeker Missile.

I changed up the part where the gravity keeps getting changed because I didn't know how Tails and Knuckles would be able to move around if gravity was pulling them down all the time. So I figured that, if Nightmare can increase the gravity, it must be able to lower the gravity too. Oh yeah, and a slight Hang Castle reference was made.

Speaking of Nightmare, I'm only doing the first fight with it in this story. It seemed to make more sense considering we've only got Tails and Knuckles right now. And the gravity will be normal when they leave Sector 2. I figure that that was all Nightmare's doing, so if it's dead, the gravity should return to normal, right?

The reference to Final Egg is based on how the base appears in the Sonic X anime. I know that it wasn't mentioned by name in the English dub, but Eggman mentions it during the Egg Viper fight in the Japanese version.

The ultrasonic sound waves and quick-hardening riot foam are a reference to the Omega Care Unit from the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. I didn't want to give Shadow a Freeze Gun, and considering that the Omega Care Unit is considered the Antiverse version of Omega in the comics, it was the only thing I could come up with.

Shadow's last line in this chapter was inspired by a YT user who left a comment on a "Believe in Myself" video that said the same thing. I really liked it, so I wanted to use it in my story. No infringement is intended.

I know Samus uses her suit's Gravity Feature to escape Sector Zero, but I was thinking of Eternal Engine from Sonic Adventure 2 while I was writing, seeing as outer space vacuums could be created on that stage, yet Tails' Cyclone is able to escape from them. Differences, you know?

Again, I moved the quote to the end of the chapter to avoid revealing potential spoilers. This is probably the last time I will be doing it.

Okay, that's it. Again, sorry for the wait and I hope you'll stick around for the rest of this story. We've only got three more chapters to go, so we're down to the home stretch. Please be patient with me. Please?


	13. Queen of the Metroids

_**I fondly remember everything I've done with Sonic. All the adventures we've shared together, everything we did for each other… That was the kind of relationship they were trying to develop with NAZO. They found the perfect means of control and started propagating Metroids in Sector Zero. At the same time, they were conducting genetic manipulation experiments to create unfreezable Metroids. The queen we met earlier was the first of these propagated Metroids to mature. They wanted to keep her as a control specimen, so they had left her genes unaltered. The fact that she'd grow into a queen was something not even Madeline and her team could have predicted. Only special infants had the genetic coding to become queens.**_

_-Miles "Tails" Prower_

* * *

The clone of Black Doom panted heavily as he dragged himself into a large room with his hands, leaving behind a trail of green blood as he struggled to get into the room. Although he had managed to escape Team Dark a short while ago, the team having to give up their search for him when they heard that Tails and Knuckles were headed for Sector Zero, he had suffered serious injuries in the process.

There was hardly a shred of makeshift clothing left and the necklace made of bones gone, having been smashed to bits at some point. Covering his body were cuts, lacerations, and bruises ranging from surgical incision size to going almost all the way up his back and front. He looked like a real train wreck; if it wasn't for the fact that he was a Black Arms, he would probably be dead by now. But as a black alien, he was able to survive serious injuries for longer periods of time and had a much faster natural healing process, something the original Black Doom had passed onto his 'son', Shadow. Now that he was away from the black hedgehog, maybe he could get a chance to properly recover.

Such a chance never came. As he remained on his arms near a corner of the room, the clone heard the sound of heavy locks moving out of place and felt a rumbling come from the other side of the room. Looking up, he saw a pair of large blast doors slowly sliding open and heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the other side of them. As he watched, a large, crocodile-like creature lumbered out between the doors and into view, its eyes focused on him.

Black Doom let out a loud roar, as though he were trying to frighten the much larger creature into staying away from him. As one might expect, though, the threat attempt did little to frighten the large creature and it continued walking towards the black alien. Seeing that it wasn't the least bit intimidated, Black Doom tried to push himself up higher with his arms to hopefully levitate off the ground, but it was too late. Before he could even push up to his arm's full length, the creature rushed him. A loud roar was the last thing heard before the sounds of a predator tearing into its latest catch began to fill the room…

**Meanwhile…**

Tails and Knuckles stepped into the elevator that led to the Bioweapon Research Center, the elevator moving on its own as soon as it sensed their presence. Aside from a quick stop in the Navigation Booth near what used to be Sector Zero and going back through the formerly gravity-manipulated rooms in Sector 2, their trip back through the Cryosphere and then through the Biosphere was relatively uneventful. Many of the rooms they returned to were relatively empty, allowing them to reach the elevators rather quickly.

As they waited for the elevator to reach its destination, Tails' thoughts turned to Nicky. "_I hope he's still okay. We lost track of the Deleter before we met him, so he could've still been around there somewhere. With any luck, Nicky went back to that storage room we found him in; the hatch should've been able to keep just about anything out as long as it was locked,_" he thought. He then raised an eyebrow as he thought, "_Now that I think about it, he kind of reminded me of Sonic in a way. His voice sounded similar and most of his fur was a darker shade of blue than Sonic's. Is it just coincidence, or…?_"

He was broken out of his thoughts when Knuckles nudged him and said, "Hey. We're here." Glancing up, Tails noticed that the elevator doors were open, revealing the short hallway that led to the BRC's Navigation Booth. Nodding, Tails followed Knuckles out into the hall and into the Navigation Booth. In the hallway past the booth, they found two sets of lasers set up that weren't there before and a pair of FG-1000s waiting for them. They quickly took care of these obstacles and ran into the main room of the research center.

Shortly after entering the room, Tails and Knuckles noticed a body lying on the floor near the computer console. They were relieved to see that it wasn't Nicky, but then they realized that it was clad in a Federation Power Suit and ran over to it. Knuckles knelt down next to the body and gave its left shoulder a push, allowing them to see who it was. They winced at the sight of the broken visor, a pale, terror-frozen face visible past it. "James!" Tails murmured, surprised.

Knuckles glanced over at Tails and said, "Tails, go check the storage room for Nicky. Whatever did this might still be around." Tails nodded and ran over to the hatch while Knuckles looked around the room from where he was kneeling. As he looked, he noticed a hallway to the left of the computer console that must've been closed the last time they were there.

Tails ran back over to Knuckles as he stood up, saying, "He wasn't in there, Knuckles! I have no idea where he could be right now!"

Knuckles turned his head enough to look at Tails and said, "Never mind that right now." He then turned back towards the hallway and pointed at it while saying, "That wasn't open last time. We need to check it out." Tails looked where he was pointing and followed Knuckles when the echidna headed for the hallway. The hatch at the end led them to another elevator, which took them down further into the Bioweapon Research Center.

After they reached the bottom, they followed the corridor they stepped out into and, in the larger part of the room, ran up a short set of stairs to reach another hatch. Immediately after stepping through it, they noticed a trail of green blood just up ahead. They slowly and quietly made their way forward, examining the damaged floor and splotches of green as they did. When they reached the larger room beyond the short passage, they followed the trail of green blood to the right, their eyes going wide at what they saw.

A large, disheveled corpse was sitting against the wall, partially mummified and missing a lot of skin. The skeletal structure was both familiar and alien to the two, but they knew whose skeleton it was. The biggest hint they could see was the three eye sockets in the skeleton's skull, the red eyes within glazed over and lifeless. "Black Doom…" Tails muttered. Something had found the clone first and basically turned him into a meal, removing big chunks of his skin. As he looked over the remains, Tails wondered, "What happened here?"

After staring at the body for several moments, Tails and Knuckles turned their heads away and headed for a hatch on the other side of the room, running through it into another hallway. Going down the set of stairs in front of them, they ran all the way to the hatch at the other end, which Tails unlocked by shooting a charged shot at the mechanism above it. Unfortunately, this also seemed to activate some sort of security mechanism, as turrets hidden in the wall behind them started shooting red rings of energy that Tails' headset identified as Rinka. The duo quickly made their way through the next few hallways while dodging these bouncing projectiles, eventually reaching a Navigation Booth where they could catch their breaths.

Once they felt that they were ready to continue, they left the Navigation Booth and ran up the staircase in the next room to reach the hatch leading to Room MW. The hatch locked shortly after they stepped through it, but they ignored it for the moment. Knuckles went to the right while Tails headed for the other side of the room, both of them looking for the survivor. Knuckles quickly checked the three rooms on his side, but didn't find anything; he then looked over at Tails and noticed the fox was looking through the glass of the hatch on the right. Moving to his side, he saw why: there was a woman sitting near the wall in the room.

Tails raised his right fist and gently knocked on the glass. It was by no means a loud sound, but it certainly startled the woman inside. She gasped at the sight of Tails and Knuckles and began backing up towards the far wall, standing up as she got closer to a terminal in the back. Tails spoke, "No! No, you've got it wrong!"

The woman didn't seem to hear him, seeing as she kept saying, "Stay away! Stay away!" While she was saying this, she started typing something on the screen of the terminal.

"Hey, relax! Just step away from that and calm down!" Knuckles called. Before either of them could say another word, they heard the sound of blast doors opening and looked towards the left side of the room to see two large doors open enough for something small to slip through. Tails ran over to check it out while Knuckles stayed where he was to keep an eye on the woman.

Stepping through the opening into the dark room beyond, Tails immediately noticed something on the floor. It appeared to be the remains of an egg and there were several more right behind it. Tails' headset scanned them, identifying them as Metroid eggs. "Metroid eggs? But how…?" Tails muttered, shocked. Suddenly, the doors behind him began to slide open the rest of the way and he heard the sound of something approaching him from the front.

Turning his head to look, he saw a massive foot crush one of the egg shells completely. Looking up, he saw that it was the same crocodile-like creature that had attacked the Black Doom clone earlier; his headset identified it as a Queen Metroid. She reared her head back, giving a roar before extending her jaws towards Tails, trying to snap him up! Tails leapt back as soon as he saw the head move towards him, performing a back flip and narrowly avoiding getting caught by the Queen Metroid's mouth. He landed on his feet outside the room and slid back a bit, Knuckles running over to him as soon as he saw the creature lumber out between the doors. "What the heck is that thing?" he yelled.

"Queen Metroid. Had babies in that room. Need to deal with it. Now," Tails quickly replied, knowing there was no time for a long-winded explanation.

The Queen Metroid swung her head to the side and then seemed to tense up as a bulge appeared on her back. Seconds later, a Metroid burst out of it, catching Tails and Knuckles' attention; while they were distracted, the Queen Metroid tried to snap at them, but they recovered fast enough to dive away, Tails diving to the left while Knuckles dove to the right. After he got up, Knuckles noticed the Metroid was floating towards him, and it sure didn't look like it was going to give him a hug! He backed up a bit, diving to the side when the floating jellyfish suddenly lunged at him, the Metroid's mandibles missing him.

Tails flew towards him, his arm cannon already charging an Energy Ball. The Metroid didn't see him coming, allowing him to catch it off guard with a shot to its back. The shot itself didn't seem to hurt the Metroid, but the electricity sparked around it, temporarily paralyzing it and making it drop to the ground. Before it could shake the paralysis off, Knuckles grabbed it and threw it at the wall and then quickly delivered a powerful punch to its underside, completely flattening the Metroid's insides. It then fell to the floor, dead.

Angered at what they had just done, the Queen Metroid released two more Metroids from her back. Tails and Knuckles stuck close together, using their newfound strategy for dealing with the Metroids to deal with the queen's children. She released three more after they took care of the two and they dealt with them the same way, though one of them managed to briefly latch onto one of Tails' tails when he wasn't looking, though Knuckles managed to knock it off of him.

The Queen Metroid let out an angry roar, five bright purple crystals bursting out of her neck shortly afterwards. She then swept her head from left to right while letting out a geyser of flames at Tails and Knuckles. Tails spun his namesakes around to fly up out of the way and Knuckles leapt onto the wall behind him, climbing up out of the way. While he was up in the air, Tails scanned the Queen Metroid with his headset and then called to Knuckles, "Knuckles! Those crystals on the queen's neck seem to have nerves in them! If we can break them, we might be able to stop her!"

Knuckles called back, "Got it! See if you can distract her so I can get close enough to attack, Tails!" Although the fox clearly did not like this, he agreed to do it since the crystals on the Queen Metroid's neck could probably only be broken by Knuckles anyway.

Tails flew in front of the Queen Metroid and fired an Energy Ball in her face, which only served to annoy her. She tried to grab him with her jaws and, when he flew away, charged after him. Tails flew out of her path, causing the queen to hit the wall headfirst, leaving her dazed for a moment. Knuckles took this opportunity to strike, putting on his Shovel Claws as he dropped down onto the Queen Metroid's neck.

As soon as he landed, the queen began to move her neck around, trying to shake him off. Tails managed to get her to stop by flying in front of her and firing another Energy Ball at her face, temporarily diverting her attention to him. Knuckles took advantage of this and dug his Shovel Claws into the first crystal, the Queen Metroid giving a pained roar at this action. He managed to rip it to shards and had started on the second crystal when the queen began trying to shake him off again. Tails came around to distract her again, but she was ready for him this time. She swung her head to the side, hitting Tails as he flew towards her and sending him towards the wall, the two-tailed fox falling to the floor after a hard impact.

"Tails!" Knuckles exclaimed. The fox was going to need a minute to get his bearings, but the Queen Metroid was looking to end him now. Putting his attack on hold, Knuckles pulled his Shovel Claws out of the crystal and leapt off the queen's neck, running towards Tails as the Queen Metroid charged at them both. Knuckles managed to reach Tails first and grabbed him while diving to the side, the queen slamming into the wall once again.

While she was stunned, Knuckles checked on Tails. Aside from being hurt due to the rough impact with the wall, Tails seemed to be fine. Once he was back on his feet, they ran towards the Queen Metroid, who turned her head to face them. She snapped her jaws at them, but they kept going towards her and simply moved to the side to avoid her mouth. They then leapt onto her neck, Tails hanging on while Knuckles resumed his attack. The queen continued to try to shake them off, but Tails managed to make her stop momentarily with several Energy Ball shots.

Soon, Knuckles destroyed the last crystal and he and Tails leapt off of the Queen Metroid's neck as she raised her head up and let out a roar before collapsing to the ground. They both stood in front of her, looking for any signs of movement. "Did that do it?" Knuckles wondered.

Suddenly, the Queen Metroid stood up and looked directly at the both of them, her stomach vibrating as a new set of crystals grew out of her neck. "I guess not!" Tails exclaimed. That wasn't enough to stop her; now what could they do?

A female computer voice suddenly caught their attention, "This facility will be intercepting Planet Earth's orbit in approximately 30 seconds."

Tails and Knuckles were shocked by this sudden announcement. "_Oh no! We totally forgot about that!_" Tails yelled to himself. They both looked up at the Queen Metroid as she readied another attack, both of them realizing the situation they were in looked quite bleak. "_What do we do…? Sonic, what do we do?_" Tails screamed in his head.

The Queen Metroid charged at them, Tails and Knuckles readying themselves for one last attack as the last seconds counted down. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…"

The countdown never made it to one, as something suddenly caused the BOTTLE SHIP to rumble violently, throwing Tails, Knuckles, and the Queen Metroid off their feet. "WARNING. Emergency brakes engaged. Brace for impact," the computer voice said. Above the disorientation he felt from hitting the ground, Tails could tell that the BOTTLE SHIP was indeed coming to a complete stop.

He and Knuckles recovered a minute later and stood up, noticing that the Queen Metroid was still lying on her side. Tails managed to hit her stomach with several Energy Balls, but then the queen stood up and towered over them, flames gathering in her mouth. "Great, what do we do now?" Knuckles yelled.

Tails glanced back at him and said, "Get behind me, Knuckles! Don't ask why, just do it!" Although confused, Knuckles did as he was told and stood directly behind Tails. Tails pressed a few buttons on his arm cannon, a white light soon surrounding it. He then pointed it up at the Queen Metroid's mouth and put his free hand on it before shouting, "Eat this! Power Bomb Launcher!" He then fired a glowing projectile into the queen's mouth, which went straight down to her stomach. Tails then fished a small device out of one of his tails and activated it, thinking, "_Let's hope this new guard mechanism I've been working on does what I designed it to do._"

Seconds later, a large explosion and a bright white light engulfed the entire room…

The mystery woman stepped out from behind the damaged hatch of the room she was hiding in, looking at the destruction around her. The Queen Metroid was nowhere to be seen, her presence scattered all over the room. Tails and Knuckles were nowhere to be seen either. Had they been vaporized in the explosion?

A loud *CLANG* from the other side of the room made it clear that that was not the case. Looking in the direction of the noise, the woman saw one of Tails' legs and one of Knuckles' fists sticking out of a pile of rubble. The complete fox and echidna soon pulled themselves all the way out, looking a bit dusty and scratched but otherwise no worse for the wear. Knuckles immediately demanded, "Tails, what the heck was that?"

The fox sheepishly replied, "Well, I was hoping I wouldn't have to test that out in a life-or-death situation, but it looks like it worked." Any further conversation was cut off when they noticed the woman run through a hatch into an adjacent room. "Hey, wait!" Tails cried, standing up and running after her, Knuckles following behind him.

The two of them followed her through several rooms before it seemed like they finally cornered her. She was trying to get a locked hatch to open as they ran towards her, still trying to get away. They came to a stop when she said, "Stay away!" She looked back at them over her shoulder as she told them, "Don't come any closer!" She turned to face them completely as she begged, "Stay away from me…"

Silence ruled the room for a minute before Tails said. "Okay. We won't come any closer until you say so." The woman still looked unnerved, so Tails spoke, "I'm Tails and this is Knuckles. We're here on our own, not under anyone's orders. We know what's going on here, and we know how you must feel. We're here to secure your safety." This seemed to calm the woman down, seeing as she let her arms drop to her sides and stopped pressing her back up against the hatch. Tails asked, "Can we come closer?"

The woman nodded and both sides approached each other. Once they were a comfortable distance apart, Knuckles asked, "Who are you? What do you do here?"

The woman replied, "I'm responsible for all operations. My name is Madeline Bergman."

Tails spoke, "Hold on. Earlier we met a hedgehog who said he was an assistant to Madeline Bergman and that she was missing. Are you really her?"

The woman pressed a button on her chest, which displayed an image of her Researcher ID card. It identified her as Madeline Bergman, the Development Director. This surprised both of them, but it was nothing compared to what she said next.

"The hedgehog you're referring to… was NAZO."

* * *

I think this was a good chapter. Hope you all thought so too.

You may remember from chapter 4 that Commander Tower mentioned a Power Bomb Launcher being restricted in addition to the Power Bombs themselves. I guess now you know what he meant by that.

The guard mechanism that Tails uses to shield himself and Knuckles from the explosion was inspired by his guard skill in Sonic Battle, which mentions that it's generated by some kind of guard machine. Same idea here, just stronger.

What happens in the next chapter will be a little different from what happens in the game. I hope it turns out to be interesting.

Music:

Return to the Bioweapon Research Center - Death Egg Zone (Sonic Generations)

Heading for Room MW - Tourian (Metroid Zero Mission)

Queen Metroid Battle - Dance of Illusions (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood)

Finishing off the Queen - Gigantic Angel Zone Boss (Sonic Pocket Adventure)

Madeline Bergman - Theme of Laura (reprise) (Silent Hill 2)


	14. NAZO Unleashed

WARNING! Slight depictions of violence and death appear in this chapter, as well as some brief sexual themes. Just a quick heads-up.

* * *

_**Madeline had taken to calling NAZO "Nicky." She took the initials NAZO and told the hedgehog that they stood for Nicholas Amadeus Zared Olaf. NAZO liked that name; it made him feel as though Madeline saw him as a real person instead of some laboratory experiment. Once he felt abandoned and hunted by that same Madeline, NAZO telepathically commanded the special forces to revolt. The facility fell into complete chaos and suffered widespread damage. With the Black Arms under his control, he was able to propagate Metroids in Sector Zero, even creating a Queen Metroid. He was well armed and planning his attack on the United Federation. But we crushed his plan completely. At that point, who could guess where he was and what he was planning to do next?**_

_-Knuckles the Echidna_

* * *

Tails and Knuckles looked at Madeline Bergman, shock written all over their faces. "That hedgehog… Nicky is NAZO?" Tails asked.

Madeline nodded, "Yes. He is not a machine, but rather a clone. He carries both Sonic and Shadow's DNA within him."

Knuckles asked, "Sonic and Shadow…? How is that possible?"

Madeline looked down at the ground for a minute before looking back up at Tails and Knuckles and explaining, "Originally, NAZO was supposed to be no more than an artificial intelligence, developed to regenerate and control Black Arms special forces, similar to Black Doom. Many of the researchers had objections to this plan, however; we had all seen a copy of the reports that Shadow and Rouge had made regarding Metal Sonic's mutiny. They weren't sure that we would be any more successful at making a loyal AI than Dr. Eggman had been. They feared the same thing would happen to us."

Tails asked, "So what led you to create what Nicky is now?"

Madeline answered, "During that time, we started to see the viability of creating Metroid clones. Once we did, we decided to forget about artificial intelligence and instead create something new that would be capable of everything we wanted the artificial intelligence to do. We worked our way through Sonic and Shadow's DNA until we had separated everything. We had everything we needed to create the special forces, leaving both Sonic and Shadow's original genetic information in its natural form. We then attempted to combine them together, trying to create a new life form that would have the best of both hedgehogs. Many attempts failed, but we eventually succeeded. Nicky was able to grow, the combined DNA having the traits we desired enhanced and the less desirable ones silenced."

Tails asked, "But why? I can understand why you felt unsure about using artificial intelligence, but why go to such lengths?"

Madeline explained, "Because no matter what method we used, the first Metroid hatchling would still need to recognize NAZO as a parent figure. He would have to take on the form of a living thing one way or the other. With that as our theoretical basis, we were able to create the ideal relationship with the Metroid. One that wasn't based on dominance or control."

Knuckles asked, "So after you successfully combined their DNA, what did you do?"

Madeline replied, "We sped up his growth slightly while he was developing, to get him to the physical age you've seen. We were a bit nervous about doing this, seeing as we didn't have a lot of free DNA left to start over with if we put his life in jeopardy, but it didn't seem to affect him, at least not as far as we could tell. Once he was old enough, we brought him out of his tube and started working with him."

Tails asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Madeline answered, "We showed him around, got him acquainted with everyone, explained what he would be doing. He took it all quite well, and once he started his actual work, he excelled. As an interface between us and the Metroids, he went far beyond our expectations, displaying Shadow's calmness and Sonic's ease in interacting with others. His confidence was unwavering, and he learned much faster than we'd expected. But then… he began to change."

Knuckles asked, "Change how?"

Madeline explained, "It was as though everything we tried to repress had begun to reveal itself, as he began to assert his own thoughts more often and his opinions began to contradict ours. And not only that, but at times he seemed to become confused over who he really was. We would sometimes see him exhibiting behavior similar to either Sonic or Shadow and not the other. It's possible that this was an unforeseen consequence of the cloning process, or it was brought about by his interactions with the Metroids, but we don't know for sure."

Tails thought to himself, "_Maybe it was both. Whatever process they used to clone him might not have been perfected yet, causing some of both Sonic and Shadow's memories to somehow carry over. That could've brought out what they were trying to repress in him. But I'm sure that being with the Metroids probably had a large impact on Nicky. Being around them must've somehow awakened parts of his soul that he didn't even know existed._"

He was brought out of his thoughts when Madeline said, "And that was when we decided that our first attempt at 'Project NAZO' was a failure. That we would… have to start the project anew, with a fresh NAZO."

Tails looked down at the ground, thinking, "_So they were going to get rid of him and replace him with a new NAZO, one that would be the same except without any feelings. By denying him that consciousness, the new NAZO would be little more than a robot. Poor Nicky…_"

Madeline continued, "On the day that we were going to 'remove' NAZO, right before my eyes… I watched him being restrained. He reached out to me and asked me for help. But there was nothing I could do… My presence that day caused a disturbing reaction in him. He was fixated on me…" She was silent for a moment before she continued, "NAZO was trying to get revenge on the Federation Army… and on us. It's possible that all humans have become the target of his hatred. He's backed into a corner. And his hatred is entirely focused on the three of us right now…" A moment later, Madeline looked over Tails and Knuckles' heads and gasped, the two of them whipping around to see what had made her react so.

"NAZO!" Madeline gasped. The navy blue hedgehog was standing a fair distance away from the group, his orange eyes narrowed as he pointed a Freeze Gun at them. Reflexively, Tails and Knuckles crowded in front of Madeline, guarding her and being ready to attack in case the hedgehog tried anything. After a moment of silence, Madeline spoke, "Wait… NAZO. Calm down. Please, listen!" She then moved between Tails and Knuckles, approaching NAZO.

"Madeline! Stay back!" Knuckles said. The scientist moved a few steps closer before stopping, maintaining the gap between them.

Madeline started, "You… I mean, we were wrong. It's all over."

Tails exclaimed, "Madeline!" NAZO pointed the Freeze Gun at the fox, daring him to make a move. Tails summoned his arm cannon at this, but made no further movements.

"I was not wrong. The humans were foolish, and I was forced to bring the judgment they deserved on them. And yet because of you two and my fathers, I failed. They already paid the price for what they did; now it is time for you two to understand the weight of your crime. You must pay the price for what you've done," NAZO said, plain and simple.

Madeline began to walk towards NAZO again, saying, "Please, NAZO. We have to get past this."

NAZO answered, "No. All of humanity will be judged." He then pointed the Freeze Gun up towards Madeline's head.

Madeline stopped and pleaded, "It's okay now. I won't ever fail you again. I promise… I'm so sorry, Nicky."

Upon hearing the name Madeline had given him, a wave of memories began to run through NAZO's mind. Madeline complimenting him on how he styled his quills, Sonic being turned into the Werehog for the first time and being discarded by Dr. Eggman along with the drained Chaos Emeralds, Madeline giving him a real name, Black Doom telling Shadow that the day of reckoning was near… His eyes began to shift from side to side, as if trying to make sure he wasn't imagining everything.

After a minute, he let his arms fall to his sides, still holding the Freeze Gun. Then he gave a dark glare at Madeline and let out a shout before dashing towards her at Sonic speed and pushing her backwards. Tails and Knuckles quickly moved to catch her; at the same time, a shot rang out from the hatch they had entered the room from. As Tails and Knuckles caught Madeline and set her down, NAZO turned towards the hatch, only to get hit head on with an icy shot that caused a layer of ice to form around his body.

"Nicky!" Madeline cried, reaching a hand out towards him. Seconds later, a squad of G.U.N. soldiers stormed the room, ignoring NAZO and moving towards Tails, Knuckles, and Madeline, all of them backing up towards the wall in response. The six soldiers soon had them up against the wall, all of them pointing their weapons at the three of them.

Unnoticed by anyone, a strange heat began to emanate from NAZO's body, causing the layer of ice to quickly melt. He opened his eyes, which now appeared to be green rather than orange, and took several steps before glaring in the direction of the G.U.N. soldiers. A blue-gray light began to surround his body as he threw his stolen Freeze Gun at the ground, the weapon sliding across the floor until it hit the wall Tails, Knuckles, and Madeline were backed up against, bouncing up into the air when it hit.

Before anyone could move, NAZO's fur turned blue-gray and a fiery aura surrounded him, seemingly causing his clothes and the patch of white fur on his chest to disappear, two quills that were hidden under his shirt branching out from his back now that they were freed. He then let out a loud shout as the fiery aura around him spread out, running along the floor and up the walls. The entrance hatch sealed shut and the hemispherical coverings on the walls began to glow orange. As everyone watched, the coverings opened up, revealing creatures that Tails' headset identified as Desbrachians. Six of them appeared, landing on the floor and surrounding Tails, Knuckles, Madeline, and the G.U.N. soldiers.

Immediately, the soldiers turned their weapons on the creatures and opened fire. While Knuckles and Madeline looked around in shock, Tails glanced back over his shoulder at NAZO. The now blue-gray hedgehog was letting his aura surge again, as if calling out beyond the room for reinforcements. While they were looking, one of the Desbrachians attacked one of the soldiers, sending him up into the air with a claw and following him, sending him back down to the ground with a downwards strike.

As the soldiers continued to fight with the creatures, Tails and Knuckles looked at each other and nodded a moment later. Tails then looked back at Madeline and said, "Madeline, stay back!" He and Knuckles then turned and leapt into the fight, Tails firing an Energy Ball at the back of one of the Desbrachians. When it turned in their direction, Knuckles brought out his right Shovel Claw and ran it into the creature's midsection, bringing his arm back and then throwing it away a second later.

NAZO turned and glared at the two, having seen what they did out of the corner of his eye. He raised his right hand and pointed at them. Almost immediately, a Desbrachian knocked the soldier that was shooting at it away and flew towards Tails and Knuckles with its claws extended. It aimed for Tails first, the fox turning and noticing it in barely enough time to avoid a diagonal slash across his torso, although it did cut the end of a couple hairs off. Knuckles brought out both Shovel Claws and leapt at the creature, the two matching each other claw for claw. While they were swiping at each other, Tails flew over Knuckles' head and towards the Desbrachian's face, firing an Energy Ball right into its open mouth. While it was stunned by the electricity, Knuckles removed his right Shovel Claw and swung his fist into its chest, sending it into the wall. When it hit the ground, its protective casing reappeared, protecting it while it healed.

NAZO growled, "Persistent pests…" He decided not to send any more Desbrachians after them, arrogantly deciding that, since he was invincible, he could easily deal with them while his 'pets' sliced the humans to ribbons. He then muttered, "Chaos Control." And with a flash of light, he disappeared.

Tails noticed that NAZO had vanished and cried, "Where'd he go?" As if to answer his question, the hedgehog appeared right behind him, between him and Knuckles. Tails whipped around to face him, but managed nothing else due to being backhanded by NAZO. He fell to the floor and, after recovering slightly from the impact, looked up to see NAZO holding his left fist back above his head. Tails gasped and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding having that fist hit his midsection, the fist creating an indent in the floor instead. NAZO glared at Tails, growling at the fox's attempt to escape his punishment.

Knuckles raised his right fist, yelling, "You sneaky little…!" He then swung his fist at the back of NAZO's head, but the hedgehog whipped around and cleanly caught it with his left hand. In one quick motion, he brought his right knee up, slamming it into Knuckles' gut and knocking the wind out of him. Knuckles wheezed, but tried to hit the hedgehog with his left fist. NAZO easily leapt out of the way and raised his right leg, bringing it down on Knuckles' head and forcing him down to the ground.

Tails, having collected himself by this time, ran towards NAZO and swiped his twin tails across the ground, managing to knock NAZO off his feet. This didn't do much, however, as NAZO simply levitated in midair and flipped himself over to face Tails. He then set his feet on the ground and reached towards him, gripping the sides of his face and closing the gap between their faces. "You little PUP! Why don't you just give up? The DNA from my fathers has given me my own personal store of Chaos energy! I am INVINCIBLE! You can't even scratch me!" he screamed before punching Tails in the face, breaking his headset and sending him flying back into the wall near Madeline.

Knuckles roared and launched himself at NAZO, the hedgehog turning around to face him. While they started fighting again, Madeline ran over to Tails and began to tend to him. As Tails recovered, he thought about what he had just been told, "_A store of Chaos energy…? Inside of his body? Does that mean…?_" As soon as he was feeling well enough to stand up, he thanked Madeline and used his tails to propel himself towards NAZO, who was beginning to wear Knuckles out. Activating his Jet Anklets, he let out a yell and leapt towards NAZO, swinging his namesakes at the hedgehog.

The attack never connected, as NAZO leapt away and flew up, hovering high above everything else in the room. He took a moment to oversee the chaos that was occurring below him. The human soldiers were proving to be far more resilient than the researchers had been, but he knew they couldn't keep it up forever. He then turned his attention back to Tails and Knuckles and called, "So you want to see Sonic again that badly, do you? Very well, then! You'll be seeing him very soon!" He then raised his left arm in front of him and then whipped it to his side, shouting, "Chaos Spear!" As soon as he said that, three yellow projectiles went shooting down towards Tails and Knuckles.

Tails grabbed Knuckles by his shoulders and spun his namesakes around, his Jet Anklets managing to give him the boost he needed to get away from the spot where they had been standing, flying towards Madeline. NAZO glared and suddenly disappeared again, reappearing above Tails. Before either he or Knuckles could react, NAZO brought his foot down on Tails' back, sending him face first into the floor while Knuckles landed hard on his back. Tails groaned, swearing that he heard a crack this time. Before he could pick himself up, NAZO reappeared over him, his right foot pressing down on his back. Once again, he raised his left fist above his head, this time aiming for Tails' head. Knuckles quickly leapt to his feet at this and ran towards the hedgehog, yelling, "Leave him alone!"

NAZO let his left arm drop to his side and turned with his foot still on Tails' back, raising his right arm. His fist began to glow white as he gathered energy in it, but Knuckles kept coming towards him. "You die first," NAZO hissed, rays of light shooting out of his fist as he finished gathering energy. As Knuckles got within range, he swung his right fist towards NAZO as the hedgehog did the same.

Before NAZO's fist got anywhere close to Knuckles, however, something happened. All of a sudden, the blue-gray light and fiery aura surrounding him vanished, his clothing and patch of fur reappearing while the energy within his fist dissipated. "Wha-?" he barely managed to shout before Knuckles fist made contact with him, sending him flying into one of his Desbrachians.

"What happened?" Knuckles exclaimed, surprised.

Tails pushed himself up and looked in NAZO's direction while saying, "I was right! He can't tap into his Chaos energy store forever! Sooner or later, he has to recharge!"

Knuckles grinned, "All right! Maybe now we can turn the tide!"

Picking himself up off the ground, NAZO growled, "Rrrrrrrrrgggggghhhh! I'm not finished yet!" His body tensed up, his fiery aura and blue-gray light reappearing and his clothing disappearing as he focused. "I WILL carry out my grandfather's work! I will not be denied!" he screamed.

Knuckles growled, "Shoot! How did he recover his energy so fast?"

Tails stood up and said, "I don't think he actually recovered, Knuckles! I think he's trying to force the energy out, but that's only going to make him exert himself more! We just have to wear him down again!" Knuckles nodded and they both prepared themselves, a chance to put an end to this fight in sight.

Of course, draining NAZO's energy was easier said than done, especially now. Having seemingly discovered his own weakness, he stopped using moves that would drain his Chaos energy. Instead, he began using his inherited super speed to move around the room, not caring what he hit as long as it included Tails and Knuckles. As a result, he ended up slamming into his Desbrachians more than anything else while attempting to make side passes at Tails and Knuckles, both of them trying frantically to dodge them.

Ultimately, it didn't make a difference; NAZO's Chaos energy eventually ran out again and he reverted to his normal form, falling to his knees and panting heavily. Seeing his chance, Tails summoned his arm cannon and took aim at NAZO. "Stop!" Tails and Knuckles glanced behind them upon hearing Madeline's shout to see her holding the Freeze Gun in her hands. She was shaking and breathing rapidly as she took aim, but she soon closed her eyes and forced herself to pull the trigger. NAZO looked up in enough time to see the ice shot coming towards him before it hit him…

"Fire!" At that order, a group of hidden G.U.N. soldiers popped up on the catwalks above, each of them aiming their assault rifles down at NAZO. Before anyone could react, they all pulled the trigger at the same time, bullets raining down on NAZO's frozen form. The ice covering him shattered at the first bullet, the hedgehog giving a shout as the rest of the bullets dug into his body. Tails, Knuckles, and Madeline watched with wide eyes as he went down onto his back, a brown puddle appearing and growing underneath him almost as soon as he hit the ground.

"No!" Madeline screamed, the Freeze Gun falling from her hands. She began to hyperventilate as the Desbrachians retreated into their cocoon-like state, making small steps towards NAZO. "Nicky!" she cried, tears already beginning to spill from her eyes.

A minute later, Tails and Knuckles looked past Madeline, who was now curled up on the floor next to NAZO, to see a previously unseen elevator coming down from the catwalks. A squad of G.U.N. soldiers came through the nearby hatch as it reached their level, two of them surrounding Madeline as a white-skinned human male with black hair and a fully grown black beard clad in a green military uniform stepped off the elevator. Tails and Knuckles tried to go to Madeline's side, but two more approached them while pointing their guns at them, one of them saying, "Don't move!"

The man approached the duo, pushing past the two soldiers in front of them and examining them for a moment before saying, "Miles Prower, Knuckles the Echidna. I heard what happened. You both performed admirably. You can leave the rest to us." He then walked past them, leaving them to look back over their shoulders at him.

Tails head soon turned in Madeline's direction, seeing two soldiers trying to get her to stand up. "Madeline!" he said, about to run to her side.

He made two steps towards her when the man said, "Wait." Tails immediately came to a stop and glanced back at him as he spoke, "Prower. Unfortunate, what happened to Team Dark. And to think that the entire unit under them was annihilated… Truly a tragic day…" Tails couldn't help but glare at the man's back; something about his tone of voice made him sound like he was pleased with something. He then turned his head to look over his shoulder and asked, "Wouldn't you agree, Prower?" Knuckles gritted his teeth, trying his hardest not to explode at the way this guy was treating Tails. He knew he was addressing him as well, but he could tell he was using Tails' name as though he were trying to prod him.

The man turned around to face them completely and continued, "Sadly, with them gone, you're both just outsiders. And given your unofficial status, I cannot allow you contact with the witness." Now Tails gritted his teeth; this guy was really getting to him. He went on, "Seeing as your kind has a predilection for transporting illegal cargo, like Metroid DNA, I must ask that you restrict your…" He gave a silent chuckle at that. Both Tails and Knuckles were near the breaking point at the little detail he'd mentioned; he clearly knew what happened to Sonic and was figuratively kicking him as well. They both looked down at the floor, both of them shaking as the man said, "Time for these two to leave. Someone escort them to their ship!" He turned away as two soldiers approached, carrying out his command.

Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard that made both Tails and Knuckles' eyes widen, "Withdraw that order, Colonel Hugo Brass."

Their heads snapped up as they heard another familiar voice say, "That won't be necessary."

Colonel Brass turned to look in the direction of the elevator, which had gone back up to the catwalks, and demanded, "Who's there?"

The elevator came down, Sonic and Team Dark standing on it. Even though they knew better, Tails and Knuckles still looked on in shock. Sonic had some brown patches on his fur as well as on his gloves, shoes, and socks, but otherwise he looked no different from when they had last seen him. In Shadow's left hand was the blue Chaos Emerald. Unlike Sonic, he, Rouge, and Omega appeared to be unharmed in any way.

Before anyone else could speak, Shadow spoke, "Agent Shadow, sir. Leader of Team Dark." He, along with Sonic, Rouge, and Omega, stepped off the elevator as he continued, "It is our mission to secure the safety of any survivors – Commander Tower's orders, and the purpose of this mission. Authorized by the President of the United Federation, of course."

Colonel Brass walked up to them, stuttering, "What? What do you mean, the President-?"

Sonic interrupted him, "Man, you guys sure got up here quick! Heck, if I hadn't hit the brakes, we might've missed each other, or worse." Having contributed his two cents to the conversation, Sonic walked around Colonel Brass and ran over to Tails and Knuckles, catching the fox in a hug, tears streaming down the boy's face, and bumping fists with his red rival.

Rouge spoke, "I think Sonic raises a good point. It wouldn't have been pretty if the BOTTLE SHIP ended up entering Earth's atmosphere, now would it? And we're the ones Commander Tower sent in, so I'd say you're the outsider here, Colonel. I'd think twice before saying anything else if I were you." Taking Rouge's hint, Colonel Brass stepped off to the side, growling to himself as he did.

Sonic released Tails from the hug, helping him dry his eyes while Knuckles placed his right hand on the fox's right shoulder. The three of them glanced over at Team Dark, noticing Shadow and Rouge nod in approval. The three of them returned the nod, smiling.

**Soon, at G.U.N. HQ…**

Sonic stepped out of the door leading to the medical ward, looking slightly more like himself. The doctors had given him a full checkup for burns and found nothing that was worth worrying about. They also cut off the ends of his burnt fur, allowing it to grow back. They offered to have someone touch up his gloves, shoes, and socks, but he politely declined, saying that he would take care of them once he and his friends got home.

Tails, Knuckles, and Team Dark were waiting for him, Tails and Knuckles stepping forward. "You feeling okay, Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic nodded, "Feeling good, Knuckles."

Tails asked, "Sonic, how did you… you know? I didn't see you after the light faded!"

Sonic grinned sheepishly, "Well, about that, Tails… Isn't it just crazy when something good comes out of something bad?"

Rouge smirked, "I was just thinking the same thing, big blue."

Knuckles turned to look at her and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Rouge got up right in his face and said, "You always complain about the way I feel about fine jewelry, but," she then playfully poked the top of her chest with a finger as she continued, "you notice that's the very thing that ensured our escape from Sector Zero."

Tails looked back at Sonic and asked, "So what happened?"

Sonic replied, "I went into a Spin Dash while I was falling. Instead of hitting the lava, I hit one of those lava creatures… What were they called again? Eh, doesn't matter. I managed to bounce off of it and ended up going through a one-way hatch in the wall. I couldn't get back to the Power Plant from there, so I had to make my way through the inner workings of the Pyrosphere until I got to a room that I recognized."

Tails gave Sonic another hug, saying, "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

Sonic hugged him back, "I know." He then looked over at Shadow and asked, "Shadow, what's going to happen to Madeline Bergman and… Nicky?"

Shadow answered, "Madeline will be kept here under G.U.N.'s protection for the time being. She's currently in a deep sleep, but once she has recovered enough, we're going to ask her about the projects aboard the BOTTLE SHIP. As for Nicky…" His eyes drifted down to the floor for a moment before moving back up to look at Sonic and said, "I don't know what the plans for him are yet. At the very least, he'll get a proper burial."

Sonic nodded, "I see." The corridor was filled with silence for several minutes, everyone thinking about the hedgehog's last moments. He wasn't insane; the humans he had been surrounded by, save Madeline, had awakened his alien heritage and drove him to violence. He merely wanted to punish the foolish and conceited.

Knuckles eventually broke the silence, "Listen, unless you guys need anything else from us right now, we should probably get going. I've got to get the Master Emerald back to Angel Island."

Sonic looked over at him, "You're right, Knuckles. It's been in that cave on the Holy Summit for who knows how long. Hopefully, Eggman didn't find it and steal it while we were gone."

Shadow nodded, "Sure, you can do that. We can take care of the debriefing; we'll send you a message if we need you for anything."

Tails replied, "Okay then. I guess we'll see you around." Shadow nodded and Team Sonic started walking down the corridor, heading for the Hanger to retrieve the Cyclone. Partway down the hall, Sonic came to a stop and turned around to face Shadow. He then held up his right arm and gave the black hedgehog a thumbs up. Shadow's features remained stoic for a moment, then a small, honest smile appeared on his face and he returned the favor with his left thumb.

* * *

Well, looks like I managed to get this one finished in time. Not exactly Christmas-y material, but I figured I would be too busy to do something Christmas-related anyway.

So there's NAZO's backstory for you. I realize it's a crazy explanation, but hey, that's just the way things are. I guess I've been rewatching Jurassic Park a few too many times.

In a way, I suppose NAZO having some of Sonic and Shadow's memories was inspired by SW: TFU II. And of course, his pseudo-Super form has the appearance of the actual Nazo from the Sonic X trailer. Obviously NAZO isn't as epic as the Nazo that appeared in the "Nazo Unleashed" flash series, but, you know, it's kind of exciting.

Like I gave the Commander from "Shadow the Hedgehog" the name he was given in the Archie comics, Hugo Brass is directly based off the character of the same name in the comics. I merely gave him the role of the Colonel from the ending to "Other M' and gave him the title of Colonel.

I didn't really base Sonic's appearance when he returns off of anything in particular, but I guess he could look similar to how he does in Issue 230 of the Archie series after Sally redirects the Death Egg Mk. II's Roboticizer.

In the original version of this chapter, Sonic wasn't supposed to reappear, only Team Dark. However, he would've eventually returned, proving that he was the one who pulled the BOTTLE SHIP's emergency brakes like he does here. I rejected this because the reason for him disappearing sounded too OoC for him. Heck, I don't think even STC Sonic would do something like that. The recent events in STC-O have definitely shown that much.

Okay, I think that's about it from me. Have a Merry Christmas everybody and keep an eye out. I still have one more chapter to go here. See you soon!

Music:

Madeline's Explanation - Dearest (Inuyasha)

NAZO Appears - Death Egg Robot (Sonic Generations)

NAZO's True Power - Big Arm (Sonic Generations)

Running on Empty - Kanto Rival/Champion Battle (Pokémon anime)

The Death of NAZO - Despair (Trauma Center Second Opinion)

Return of Sonic and Team Dark - Sigh of Relief (Trauma Center Second Opinion)

End of Mission - Reset ("Thank You" Version) (Okami)


	15. Epilogue: Left Behind

_**Following the incident aboard the BOTTLE SHIP, a team was sent up to investigate and take stock of what was left. Ultimately, the military decided it was best to simply destroy the BOTTLE SHIP, so they set its autopilot to take it back near the region of space where we had found it in order to keep Earth from getting caught in the blast. Before they carried out that mission, Tails and I returned to the derelict space station for one last visit. When we left it last time, it turns out I had left something behind. Something I didn't feel complete without.**_

_-Sonic the Hedgehog_

* * *

Tails sat alone in the bridge of the Cyclone, quietly humming a tune to himself as he piloted the ship through deep space and checked the monitors in front of him. He remained focused on the task at hand, his eyes not even glancing back towards the door leading into the rest of the ship as it opened and Sonic stepped through it. The blue hedgehog looked over at the fox and walked over, sitting down in the seat next to him before saying, "Hey Tails."

After taking a moment to make sure nothing was in their flight path, Tails looked over at Sonic and said, "Hey Sonic. By my calculations, it won't be much longer now. We should be seeing the BOTTLE SHIP real soon."

Sonic nodded, "Glad to hear it. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get away from that ship before the military turns it into space garbage."

Tails nodded and then said, "Too bad Knuckles couldn't come with."

Sonic shrugged, "Eh, we were lucky to be able to drag him away from Angel Island when you called us to your lab. Good thing the Master Emerald was right where he left it when we got back from Guardian Mountain. He probably would've had a hissy fit if it had been stolen." He then leaned back in his chair and placed his feet up on the panel in front of him, shutting his eyes and taking care not to hit any buttons by mistake.

Tails smiled and took the chance to look Sonic over. It had only been a couple of days since they left the BOTTLE SHIP, but it was apparent that the spots where Sonic had had burnt fur were already starting to grow back. He'd be looking normal again in no time. Tails then looked back out the glass, keeping an eye out for any signs of asteroids or anything else that might cross paths with them. Eventually, he spoke up, "There it is!" Sonic cracked his eyes open at that. Sure enough, he could see the BOTTLE SHIP, no longer surrounded by space dust and almost looking like it was drifting through space.

After a short, relatively uneventful flight, the Cyclone passed through the invisible shield around the entrance to the BOTTLE SHIP and landed in the same spot it had before. The ship's front door opened and the ramp extended down to the ground soon afterwards, Sonic and Tails walking down the ramp to the ground below. After the ramp retracted, there was silence, the same unwelcoming silence that had greeted them last time. Sonic soon asked, "So, to Sector 3?"

Tails nodded, "Yep. We'd better get moving. We've got a lot of ground to cover." With that, the two of them ran up the nearby ramp, once again making their way into the BOTTLE SHIP.

The ship's Main Sector was relatively deserted; the only creatures they saw on their way to the elevators were Reo and Geemers. They almost felt like they were running through a high-tech futuristic ghost ship. Aside from the small creatures, the only thing that could qualify as a possible sign of life was the female computer voice that spoke to them after they boarded the elevator to the Pyrosphere, "This elevator is bound for Sector 3." It wasn't the least bit comforting.

Their trip through the Pyrosphere was a little more exciting, as the wildlife that had taken over the sector were a little more abundant than that in the Main Sector. They weren't visiting just to see what was still around, though; they had a destination in mind: the Geothermal Power Plant. Some new damage had occurred since their last visit, however. Part of the ceiling in the hallway near the elevator that connected to the volcano had fallen in, damaging the hatch to the volcano in the process. With the hatch damaged, it seemed that going the long way through the sector was their best bet for reaching the Power Plant.

Of course, going the long way meant that they had to deal with a fair amount of the creatures that populated Sector 3. In the room where Team Dark had faced the Vorash, they even encountered a creature called a Crocomire, which had skin so tough that the only way to defeat it was to push it into the lava. The Crocomire was about the only thing they encountered that really gave them any problems, though. Everything else they had seen before, so any other encounters they had the rest of the way only slowed them down slightly.

Eventually, they reached the Navigation Booth closest to the Geothermal Power Plant and ran through the room and the glass tube that were past it. At the entrance to the Power Plant, they hurried up the stairs, but the hatch leading to the part of the Power Plant where they had encountered Black Doom's clone was not lit up. "I guess the hatch is still damaged from that attack Black Doom used. The team must've decided that there was no point in repairing it since we opened the Magma-Eruption Port," Tails said.

"Hm. I'm not sure I wanna find out how durable these hatches really are. How did you, Knuckles, and Shadow's team get out last time?" Sonic asked.

"Oh! When Shadow went after the clone, he made a big hole in the wall. It should still be around here somewhere…" Tails replied, spinning his twin namesakes around and flying away from the hatch, looking for the hole. He soon found what he was looking for and landed on the edge of the platform, calling, "Over here! Come on!" Sonic ran over to him and the two joined hands, Tails once again taking flight and lifting Sonic up to the hole and flying through it.

Sonic glanced around as they approached the platform in the middle of the room, commenting, "Geez, that platform looks even worse than it did before."

Tails watched a piece of the platform break off and fall into the magma below before nodding, "No kidding. Shadow must've done more damage with that Chaos Blast than I thought. I hope it's still here…" He set Sonic down near the middle of the platform and landed next to him, both of them looking around. Tails soon spotted Sonic's helmet near one of the edges and ran towards it, exclaiming, "There it is!" He stopped in front of it and carefully picked it up, noting that the heat of the magma hadn't seemed to have had any effect on it.

He turned around and walked back over to Sonic, who had finished summoning the rest of his suit, everything but his head now covered. He gently took the helmet out of Tails' hands and said, "Thanks Tails." He then slipped it on and disengaged his suit once again, the helmet now joining the rest of it. He grinned, "Heh, feels good to be back!"

Tails smiled at Sonic, then turned around and looked at one of the walls of the room. He then said, "Guess this is the last we'll be seeing of this place." After a moment, he turned to look at Sonic, wondering why he hadn't said anything. The hedgehog had moved closer to the side of the platform that was near the hatch, looking at the magma as it flowed out of the port. Tails walked over to him and asked, "What's wrong, Sonic?"

Sonic glanced back at him and said, "Nothing. Just thinking…"

Tails looked concerned as he looked up at him, "About what?"

Sonic hesitated for a moment, then he turned to Tails and said, "I had a weird dream the other night. I was floating through space when all of a sudden, this huge… thing comes shooting by me. I think it could have been an asteroid, but it looked kind of strange. I'm not sure that's what it was."

Tails asked, "Could it have been some kind of spaceship? You know, like Astral Babylon?"

Sonic replied, "Maybe. It did kind of look like there might have been something other than rock inside of it. All I know is that it didn't give me a good feeling to look at it, especially when I saw six others go shooting by."

Tails placed his right hand on the side of his mouth, "Hm, I guess that does sound kind of weird. What could it mean?" He then started to look worried, "What if it has something to do with the Chaos Emeralds? Or you, Sonic?"

Sonic looked back at him, "Me?"

Tails nodded worriedly, "Yeah. What if something happens to you? I know it probably sounds like I'm still worrying about what happened in this room, but still, what if it means something and something bad does happen to you?"

Sonic placed his left hand on Tails' left shoulder and said, "Tails, I can't promise you that nothing bad is going to happen to me. I can't see the future, after all. But I can promise you that I'll do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens, either to me or my friends. Besides, remember what I told you when we were making our way here before?"

Tails' eyes drifted down to the floor. "_How could I forget something like that?_" he thought to himself.

_**Flashback**_

"_Come on Tails, move it!" Sonic called to his fox buddy, who was currently being attacked by a group of Magdolites as he flew over a lake of lava. Sonic was giving him some cover fire with his beam, but the creatures weren't making it easy for him to hit them. Tails was about to reach the ledge Sonic and Knuckles were on when one last Magdolite came after him, reaching for him with one of its arms. Tails managed to land on the ledge before it grabbed him, thankfully, and Sonic disposed of it with a charged blast and a missile._

"_Well, that was fun. Come on, we're almost to the Geothermal Power Plant," Knuckles said, immediately heading in the direction of a hatch._

_Sonic was about to follow him when he noticed that Tails was down on his hands and knees. He walked in front of Tails and knelt down, pushing him onto his knees with a hand and asking, "You okay, Tails?"_

_The fox panted, "Yeah, yeah I'm okay, Sonic. But that was kind of crazy. I probably shouldn't have tried to take a shortcut like that."_

_Behind his helmet, Sonic grinned, "Hey, you made it, didn't you? And it kind of looked like fun!"_

_Tails sighed, "Uh, yeah. I guess that's one way to look at it. But they came close a few times; I wasn't sure I was gonna make it."_

_Sonic helped Tails get to his feet and they began to follow after Knuckles, Sonic saying, "It sure didn't look that way to me. It sure looked like you were determined to make it."_

_Tails replied, "Well, yeah, that's true. But still…" He stopped himself before he could let himself trail off._

_Sonic spoke, "Listen, Tails… don't forget. Believe in yourself. Not you, who believes in me. Not me, who believes in you. Believe in yourself, who believes in you."_

_**End flashback**_

Tails looked up at Sonic and nodded, "Yeah, I do remember that."

Sonic replied, "You can tell me if I'm being out of line here, since I wasn't there for the rest of the mission, but it sure seemed like you stuck to believing in yourself while I was wandering around. Sure, you had Knuckles with you, but it sounds like you did plenty of things during that time. You trailed the Deleter, James Pierce, you came up with the plans to defeat the Nightmare and Queen Metroid, and you protected Madeline Bergman. You did a lot here, Tails, and there's no doubt in my mind that, no matter what happens from here on out, you can do it again."

Tails nodded slowly, "I-I didn't even think about any of that stuff. I guess you have a point there. Thanks, Sonic…" He then came forward and embraced the hedgehog, who gladly returned the embrace. At that point, everything else seemed to fade away. The sound of the magma pouring out of the wall, the heat in the room, the slight groaning of the platform they were standing on… They tuned it all out. Their display of brotherly love was far more important, and nothing could ruin it for them.

Well, almost nothing. All of a sudden, an alarm started blaring, startling both of them. Then they heard the female computer voice say, "Self-destruction protocol activated. Please evacuate the facility immediately." Sonic and Tails shared a quick glance, both of them thinking the same thing, and then broke apart from each other. Tails flew up, flying through the hole in the wall while Sonic followed him by doing a Spin Dash.

Outside, they dropped down to the floor and ran through the hatch they had come through earlier. As they stepped into the glass tube, an explosion caused it to collapse about halfway down. Over the sounds of the glass shattering and the tube's supports breaking, they heard the female computer voice say, "Six minutes until detonation. Please evacuate the facility immediately."

Tails asked, "Six minutes? Is that gonna be enough time?"

Sonic replied, "Not if we go back the way we came. Give me a hand here, Tails; we'll take the overland route." Tails was initially confused, but he soon got what Sonic was getting at. He grabbed Sonic's hands and helped him get on top of the remains of the glass tube. They then started going back the way they came, climbing over the structures rather than going through them.

They didn't go back exactly the same way they came. Instead, they headed for the volcano, which was giving off one last eruption as though it knew the end was near. They had to dodge lava bombs once they were closer, but they soon found the part of the volcano that went over the hallway that was connected to the elevator. All it took was a little spinning on Sonic's part to get them through the rock and steel, allowing them access to the hallway.

Running to the front of the elevator in the adjacent room, they found that the hatch was stuck mostly open, but the elevator itself was out. "Guess we couldn't expect the elevator to still be working when the station's about to explode," Sonic commented.

"So we're going to have to go up the shaft ourselves?" Tails guessed.

"You got it," Sonic replied. He ran inside the elevator and used a Spin Dash to break through its ceiling. Standing on top of it, he began to Wall Jump up the shaft, using a Boost to break through the hatch at the top. Tails gave him his distance, but he wasted no time in catching up with Sonic.

As they stood in front of the hole where the hatch used to be, they heard the voice say, "Three minutes until detonation. Please evacuate the facility immediately." Sonic and Tails shared another glance before they ran around to the front of the Sector 1 elevator and ran through the hatch across from it.

As they made their way back through the Main Sector, parts of the station began blowing up behind them. They also noticed piles of flaming rubble and Cyborg Black Arms as they ran back through some of the rooms. Other than that, there were no surprises waiting for them, so they made their way back to the BOTTLE SHIP's hanger fairly quickly. As they stepped through the hatch leading to it, they heard the voice one last time, "One minute until detonation. Please evacuate the facility immediately."

The duo hurried down the ramp and headed for the Cyclone, the ship's front door opening and ramp extending to the ground as they approached it. Once onboard, they headed for the bridge, both taking a seat at the ship's controls and firing it up. The Cyclone was soon ready to take off; Sonic looked over at Tails and asked, "Ready to blow this chili dog stand?"

Tails looked at him and nodded, "Yeah. Let's go home." They both then turned their attention back to the controls. The Cyclone lifted up, turned around, and shot out through the invisible shield into space. The BOTTLE SHIP continued exploding behind them, but they were far away from the station by the time the final explosion occurred, the white light from the explosion shining brightly behind them. Sonic and Tails paid it no attention; they simply set the Cyclone's course for Earth.

**Meanwhile, on the distant planet Drak…**

Under the planet's polluted skies, a meeting had been called in the House of Knowledge between the three house leaders. Presiding over the meeting was Master Scholar, leader of the House of Knowledge, Emperor Ko-Dorr, leader of the House of War, and Sister Haggra, leader of the House of Magic.

"Why have you called us together, Master Scholar?" Emperor Ko-Dorr demanded.

"Be patient, Emperor Ko-Dorr. Sister Haggra will give you all the details," Master Scholar answered.

"What, another one of her visions? This had better be good," Emperor Ko-Dorr grumbled.

"I believe you will be quite interested in this, Emperor Ko-Dorr. I have seen that the Drakon Empire will be able to rule the universe forever. And to set my vision in motion, this is where we will start," Sister Haggra answered. Master Scholar directed the Emperor's attention to the glassy circle on the floor, pointing a small device at it. Suddenly, an image of a mostly orange planet appeared. Sister Haggra continued, "This planet, Tallon IV, was impacted long ago by a celestial object. Within this object is a substance that we have come to call Phazon. It is a mysterious substance, displaying not only radiation, but also sentience."

Emperor Ko-Dorr asked, "It's a living thing?"

Master Scholar answered, "Somewhat. We do not know exactly how 'alive' it is. But we have seen what it can do to living things. We have witnessed it driving creatures mad, although there are some that aren't driven mad, and yet they change. They become stronger, fiercer; they may even display abilities they didn't have before. If we can harness this substance for our own ends, then our Sentinels and Prosecutors would become unstoppable."

Emperor Ko-Dorr thought to himself, "_Is that right? I must investigate this myself, but if this is true, then I can make it so I can become even stronger myself. Not even the two of you would be able to stop me._" He then cleared his throat and asked, "So I will be leading our troops to recover this 'Phazon' and bring it back here to Planet Drak, correct?"

Master Scholar sternly answered, "No, Emperor Ko-Dorr. We are not risking our own planet to this substance until we know everything about it. We already have plans to study it on Tallon IV so that our people will be safe. You will be leading our troops there, however. It would appear our old enemies, the Black Arms, have also stumbled upon the Phazon and are looking to take it away from us. And there is another complication."

Emperor Ko-Dorr growled, "What?"

Master Scholar used the device in his hand to turn the image of Tallon IV around, revealing the spot where the planet must've been hit by the celestial object. He then spoke, "Most of the radiation being emitted by the Phazon is coming from where the object struck the planet, however we are unable to get anywhere close to it. This planet was formerly populated by the Chozo; after the object struck, they were eventually able to construct a cradle, preventing the substance from getting out of the impact crater. Whatever they used to seal it, the Prosecutors we have sent there are unable to break through it. We have found spots where we can mine the Phazon, but to get it all, we will need to get into that crater. Finding out how to break through their cradle will be your task."

Emperor Ko-Dorr nodded, "I see. And what of the Chozo? Even if they no longer populate this planet, they were quite knowledgeable. Surely they were prepared for this."

Master Scholar replied, "Perhaps not for the impact itself, but from what we've gleamed of the last traces they left behind, they believe that a 'Defender' will come to Tallon IV. Whoever it is, whatever it is, will then enter the impact crater and destroy the source of the Phazon. And that's not all; we believe that they were helped by another bird-like race that was traveling the stars. Both may have died out, but the vessel that the other race used to travel is still out there. And it may contain gifts that were intended for this 'Defender'."

Emperor Ko-Dorr demanded, "What? Where is it?"

Sister Haggra smiled, "You can thank the Prosecutor that was captured on Planet Alinos for that. He was taken to the planet that the vessel now floats above."

Master Scholar pointed his device at the circle again. This time, it changed to an image displaying Earth's upper orbit. Master Scholar turned the image until a floating structure was seen. He then spoke, "This is the vessel that the other race used to travel the stars, possibly in search of this 'Defender'. They knew it as the divine wings, the traveler of the stars. They called it… Astral Babylon."

**THE END.**

**YOUR RATE FOR STORY COMPLETION IS 100%.**

**SEE YOU NEXT MISSION.**

* * *

Heh, got this done fast, huh? Well, shortly after finishing the previous chapter, I got the sudden urge to write up this one. I mean, this was the last chapter and I had the inspiration I needed; why not get it off my back?

I know in the post-game sequence that Phantoon is the boss that makes an unexpected appearance, but he showed up on the Control Bridge. So I thought, if something were to appear in Sector 3, what would it be? Then I remembered the first "Other M" trailer and how some people speculated the Vorash was actually Crocomire from "Super Metroid". So... that's where that idea came from.

Sonic and Tails commenting on the platform in the Geothermal Power Plant is meant to make reference to its appearance in "Dead or Alive: Dimensions". It doesn't look exactly like it does in that game, mind you, just similar.

All the named Drakons at the end are based off of the official characters of the same name in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. I know Ko-Dorr was deposed of at some point, but this is obviously different from the comic and its official unofficial continuation.

I think that's about it for that. If there's anything else that I should comment on, just let me know.

Now, based on several things in this chapter, you can probably guess what's going to happen next. That's right, next up is the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Sonic style. I mentioned way back in Sonic Fusion that I might have plans for the Drakon Empire. Well, now you know: although the Black Arms may take on a few roles themselves, the Drakons will be mostly taking on the role of the Space Pirates. And... Astral Babylon? Could the Babylon Rogues be making an appearance?

In regards to Metroid Prime Hunters, I probably won't be doing a story based off of it. If I do, it'll probably only feature Team Dark and, rather than taking place between MP1 and MP2, it would take place before the start of the Trilogy. It would pretty much be a lead-in to the Trilogy itself, if anything.

Now I've told some people this, but I haven't told everybody, so I might as well put this here. In addition to the Prime Trilogy, I've also decided to do another Sonic crossover fanfic. It won't be related to this Sonic/Metroid crossover series at all and, based off of other fics that have done this type of crossover recently, it probably won't be well-received. That's not going to stop me from doing it, however, but don't worry. You won't be seeing anything related to this new fic for a while, and even when I start, I'll still continue the Trilogy. I'm just letting you all know this now.

Okay, that's about it from me. Thanks for sticking with this story for so long and I'll see you later!

Music:

Return to the BOTTLE SHIP - Gigantic Angel Zone Act 2 (Sonic Pocket Adventure)

Heading for Sector 3 - Facing a Huge Reaction (Metroid Fusion)

Going the Long Way - Crisis Mission (Metroid Fusion)

Dreams of... the Future? - Tallon Overworld Theme #1 (Metroid Prime)

Tender Moment - Theme of Samus (Metroid Other M)

Escaping the BOTTLE SHIP - Evacuate Immediately! (Metroid Other M)

Meeting between the Houses - Building (Jurassic Park (SNES))

To Be Continued... - Results (Metroid Other M)


End file.
